Our country began with the words “We, the People.” We were united. We were together. We were, in truth, “We” the people. Now in a country divided by religion, race, political party, gender and goal it is all too easy to forget the common bond that unites us as a people and as Americans. We must always remember that it truly is, and must be, “WE” the people, not “Us and Them.”

We may have disagreements regarding points of view and personal agendas, but, more and more, we associate only with those who share our views. We see other people who oppose our positions as not merely disagreeing with us, but as weak, not only in their arguments, but weak in character. We sometimes come to see those with whom we disagree as unlike us in their personal worth, not merely in their point of view. This leads to disrespect, not merely disagreement, and makes it difficult to draw upon solutions to problems that those who often disagree with us may sometimes offer.

Rather than remaining united, we’ve become more divided. Forgetting the bond we share with others may even cause us to respond to those who differ, not with tolerance, not with respect, but with disrespect and disparagement. This can create a climate in which we merely look for faults, rather than listen, and adds to the divisiveness and intolerance that makes us forget the human thread that weaves We, the People together.

It has been said that there is a deficit of empathy which has grown over the past few years. We need to keep alive our tolerance and understanding of the circumstances of others. Tolerance does not mean that there are no standards. There must be limits and values. As Justice Holmes once said “the essence of civilization is the drawing of lines.” Tolerance means, instead, that, within those lines of what is fair and what is legal, we must accept people’s minor imperfections and focus upon their worth, not their deficiencies, remembering their efforts to solve their problems and overcome their mistakes, not merely that they have made them.

We must strive to work together with respect. We need to voice our disagreements strongly, but fairly. We must recall that those with whom we disagree about solutions merely disagree with us only about how problems should be solved, not whether they should be solved. All of us want to be safe. All of us want a strong economy. All of us want to leave a better world for our children. All of us want to have a healthier and more livable world. And that means that all of us - Democrat and Republican, elder and younger, men and women, rural or urban, black brown or white, peaceful people of Christian, Jewish, Muslim and other faiths, straight or gay - must be included in our solutions and in our regard. This must be, once again, “We, the People,” or we will not succeed as a people.

Our campaign is committed to strongly and clearly voicing disagreements with ideas and actions by our opponents and colleagues that occur while they are in office and while campaigning. We are dedicated to doing this fairly and with respect for the people, if not the ideas, where we disagree.