RIP Bob Dole

There has been a lot of talk about what it will take to heal our country.  We have heard many of our leaders profess "bipartisanship".   But we must remember that bipartisanship is the minimum we should expect from ourselves.

America has never achieved greatness when Republicans and Democrats simply manage to work together or tolerate each other.  We have overcome our biggest challenges only when we focused on our shared values and experiences.  These common ties form much stronger bonds than political parties.

When we prioritize principles over party and humanity over personal legacy, we accomplish far more as a nation.  By leading with a shared faith in each other, we become America at its best: a beacon of hope, a source of comfort in crisis, a shield against those who threaten freedom.

Our nation's recent political challenges remind us that our standing as the leader of the free world is not simply destiny.  It is a deliberate choice that every generation must make and work toward.  We cannot do it divided.

Our nation has certainly faced periods of division.  But at the end of the day, we have always found ways to come together.

We can find that unity again.

-- Robert Joseph Dole (22 July 1923 - 5 December 2021), American politician who represented Kansas in the US Senate from 1969 to 1996, and was the Republican presidential nominee in the 1996 election, in a column drafted early in 2021 to be published around the time of his death, Washington Post, 6 December 2021