To the Journal editor:

Robert Anderson had a very interesting op-ed in The Mining Journal on March 7.

His article presented the fact that we have an increasing polarization in America. He also referred to an organization called Better Angels whose mission is to unite Americans in an alliance to depolarize our nation.

After reading his article I reflected on my own viewpoint of what has polarized us. In my opinion, President Trump was burdened during his entire presidency with criticism from those that felt he should not be our president.

The fact is that he was elected president by the same system that elected President Obama. Obama had eight years without the level of resentment Trump has seen in the last three years.

Why did some not accept that we have elections in our free country, and even if their candidate did not win, they owe respect to the candidate that did? It’s called democracy.

A very troubling fallout of the polarization that has occurred is while the corona virus was starting its way to America, our House of Representatives were using all of their time (and our money) impeaching the president.

Instead, they should have been working to help our country understand what was happening and how to deal with the impending crisis. If not for President Trump stopping the entry of individuals from China (which happened Jan. 31 while the House Impeachment Team was presenting their case in the Senate to convict him), everything I have heard from our public health officials says the spread of the virus would have been much worse.

Ironically, many top- level House of representatives and senators (including many media outlets) were telling us that President Trump’s decision to ban entry was an overreaction and racist. Now the same group is saying the administration is not doing enough to solve the problems created by the virus.

If what I read on the Better Angels website (www.betterangels.org) is true, they present an opportunity for people with very different views to get together and talk about why they have those views and ways to depolarize.

It may seem like an impossible task for our society to change, but somebody has to start somewhere. My father told me more than once that, “The world is run by those that show up.”