Hillary Clinton has a tough assignment tonight: Say something convincing to the wavering non-ideological voter, sulking Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) supporters, reeling Republicans aghast that their candidate admires Vladimir Putin more than the Constitution and young voters who have little reason to vote for either rich, culturally out-of-it senior citizen. In an age of cynicism, anger, short attention spans and, sadly, widespread ignorance about our political system and basic policy issues, it is hard to imagine persuading significant numbers of voters with appeals to reason, let alone a list of policy proposals.

Well, Clinton might surprise and please voters by doing something different. For once she could be honest. “I’ve got a secret to share just between us,” she might begin. “There is no secret, no magic bullet, no political tooth fairy.” In leveling with voters about the world, about the state of the United States and about how government works, she might gain just a little credibility in the eyes of jaded voters and convince some wavering voters that Donald Trump — whether charlatan, ignoramus or proto-fascist — will take us down a path to ruin. How would that sound?

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The country is not a Third World basket case, not even close. Crime is down, not up over the decades; more immigrants are leaving than coming; and despite huge challenges and inadequate funding, our military is the most expert and proficient fighting machine in the history of the world. We have spared millions of lives around the world from childhood diseases and AIDS, and we have the moral authority to lead the free world against the dark forces of Islamist terrorism. If everyone watching the convention had the choice to be born in any country on the planet, who would not choose America?

Trump, like all egomaniacs with delusions of grandeur, has to concoct, exaggerate and flat-out lie about the state of the country and the source of our problems to gain power. Think about his formula for a moment. If we threw out 11 million to 12 million people, how would that help the unemployed factory worker get a high-tech job or boost the wages of a nurse? It wouldn’t. All it would do is deprive businesses of customers, government of revenue and fellow Americans of the contributions of these people. Trump is making up problems (e. g. immigrants are flooding over the border) and then falsely attributing blame for his distorted image of America.

The real problems we face are not going to be fixed by any single president “alone,” and certainly not by an ignorant, mean-spirited buffoon like Trump. How do we prepare students to compete and win in the 21st-century global economy, which is not going to disappear no matter how many tariffs we throw up? How do we attack endemic poverty, the product of bad policy, poor schools and destructive social trends? (Conservatives are deluding themselves if they think a rising tide is going to lift all boats, just as liberals are wrong that single-parenting does not produce children more likely to live in poverty.) How do we defeat jihadists who have spread like wildfire around the globe and have the power to inspire lone wolves with no previous history of criminal behavior or radicalization?

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It’s easy to dismiss the nature of our complex, difficult challenges by saying “The system is rigged” or “All politicians are corrupt.” It’s also a lie. The real way — the only way — to make progress is to enlist the entire country in shared goals and find areas of agreement where D’s and R’s can make steady, if not flashy, progress on education, national security, job creation and the rest.

No great social movement — e.g. the civil rights movement of the 1960s — succeeds without convincing the majority of all Americans of the moral imperative of action. That means aiming one’s appeal not merely at the choir but also the unconverted and finding common principles — simple fairness, defense of American virtues, equality of opportunity and respect for fellow citizens and civil liberties.

Clinton at least understands this and does not envision herself as a lone authoritarian. She is not going to target and scapegoat one ethnic or racial group, nor pull up the drawbridge around Fortress America. She can tell the voters in the arena and at home that rather than remain angry, bitter, divided and suspicious (aren’t we tired of being so angry?), we can do something constructive about serious international challenges, real pain that fellow Americans experience and both justified and unjustified anxiety about globalization.

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Clinton can suggest some concrete steps: Go to Congress to put back together a “grand bargain” on debt; restore military spending but also reform worker training and fund the FBI (i.e. dump the sequester scheme); and rally Democrats and Republicans to respond to Iranian aggression as we solidify international alliances to check Russian aggression and Chinese territorial ambitions. Clinton can pledge to end the politics of demonization and the habit of governing by executive action. She can insist that a unity government inclusive of Republicans and independents populate her administration.

None of this is particularly inspirational. But Clinton is who she is. Her best bet is to appeal to the innate common sense and decency of voters and to offer an alternative — imperfect and un-flashy — to Trumpism.

With a word to Republicans in particular, Clinton might also show some humility. She has made mistakes, a bunch of them, but she is not so ignorant and misguided as to invite Putin to interfere with an election and grab Crimea, or so crazy as to think Mexico will pay for a wall, or so dismissive of the Constitution as to think she can force the military to commit war crimes, or so mean-spirited as to mock the disabled and demean women, minorities and anyone who dares to dissent. These two candidates are not morally equivalent; they do not populate the same intellectual and moral universe.