Election 2016

 “AFTER an unequivocal experience of the inefficiency of the subsisting federal government, you are called upon to deliberate on a new Constitution for the United States of America. The subject speaks its own importance; comprehending in its consequences nothing less than the existence of the UNION, the safety and welfare of the parts of which it is composed, the fate of an empire in many respects the most interesting in the world. It has been frequently remarked that it seems to have been reserved to the people of this country, by their conduct and example, to decide the important question, whether societies of men are really capable or not of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend for their political constitutions on accident and force. If there be any truth in the remark, the crisis at which we are arrived may with propriety be regarded as the era in which that decision is to be made; and a wrong election of the part we shall act may, in this view, deserve to be considered as the general misfortune of mankind.”

Alexander Hamilton, General Introduction of the Federalist Papers

So we now come to the quadrennial time when it is our turn to set the direction of the nation through the casting of our votes for the next President, Representative, and in some cases Senator, who will guide the path of our nation.  The men who founded this nation were forced to wrestle with the choice of government.  Should it be by the elites, a select group that would retain power through their birthright, or could the free people of the land be trusted to choose wisely the people who would represent them, their goals, and their future?  Over the objection of some they chose the latter, and so we come to this election. 

As in most elections the choices are not clear to all, the path forward uncertain and strewn with risk for our survival.  Whatever the outcome we will continue, until we can continue no more.  For history has taught us that if we lose our identity as one people we will lose the force that binds the many states and some new form of government shall take its place.  

As President Obama noted during his 2008 campaign “the party in power has a tendency to tilt things in their direction.”  Within my memory this has never been more true than for the current administration, where it seems the entirety of the executive branch has been made part of the political effort to control the debate.

As you select your representatives for this next administration choose carefully.  From my vantage point it does not appear there is a choice to unify and unite the nation, despite the best efforts of the media to make it appear so.  So we will continue to fracture and divide, until we find representatives who will speak for the people, not just at the people.