It’s different this year. Not like the other 17 times or so that I’ve voted for a president. Our two-party system is fractured. Our electoral college balancing of small and large states has gone over the edge. Trust in our national electoral procedure had morphed into one of confusion even fear, a shocking fear of violence, even killing. And still the un-American attitude continues, even to an assassination attempt on one of our presidential candidates. Our revered Supreme Court now seems slightly tilted. This is not the United States that I grew up in, served (Air Force) and helped to raise a family.
What was once a simple story from our foundation, now rises to haunt us: Remember the closing words of Ben Franklin’s famous quote? (…if you can keep it?) It’s up to us, his American daughters and sons to vote to keep it this coming November. Will we? Will it be a day to mark American fortitude and purpose and keep Ben’s foundation of democracy, or will we become an imperialistic nation no longer a United States of America?
Charlie Stepanek
Concord