On occasion it is said that this is the most important election of our time. This is the rare occasion that this is the most important election in the history of America.

In our short history, America has seen a lot, and experienced turmoil and uncertainty. The election of 1860 comes to mind, as an election that had dire consequences.  The forces of division had warned all, all who could hear, that if Abraham Lincoln were elected, the nation could split apart as a result. A great Civil War did come about as Lincoln was elected to be the 16th President of the United States.

This coming Tuesday’s election is important and it very well could be the most important election of all time. And why, you might ask, is this election so important? No Civil War will begin as a result. No, nothing so dramatic as a war will begin as a result of this election.

In our short history as a nation, those who have competed for the honor and priviledge of being President of this country have in most part been honorable and well meaning gentlemen.

The following men were different, they were a great danger to our nation. In our past we have had Huey Long, Joseph McCarthy and the formet Vice President Dick Cheney, all men of questionable character and ambition. We also had Aaron Burr, a candidate for President who has been considered a traitor by some historians.

This election has the first woman candidate for President, Democrat,  Hillary Rodham Clinton, and her opponent is the Republican nominee, Donald J. Trump. This is an election for the ages. Rightfully or wrongfully Hillary Clinton has a trust problem. The fact that she has been a public figure for many years, is a negative because she has been the target of negative campaigning on the part of the Republican Party for all of these years.We have an image of who she is supposed to be. She has been blamed for many things that she has clearly had no responsibility for, such as the suicide of Vince Foster. I am surprised that she has not been blamed for the sinking of the Titanic or the some other ridiculous charge.

Character assassination seems to be the way that Republicans do business. Republicans seem to shy away from policy disputes but rather they would rather talk about alleged wrong doings. It has been said that they are more interested in investigating than they are in passing any legislation.

She admittedly is more secretive than she should be, because of the years of being a target for lies and innuendos. We can understand her reluctance to be more transparent because of what she has experienced. But of this we can be certain, she is a candidate who is well qualified to be President of the United States. The fact that she is a woman should be incidental to the fact that her experience and knowledge makes her a person who we are lucky to have as a candidate. Our nation could do far worse in our search for a person who is willing and able to be President.

For some people the fact that she is a woman is a disqualifying factor. This is a sad fact that our nation needs to get beyond. It is way past time that we treat men and women equally, and it is a wonderful fact that a major political party has nominated the first woman candidate to be President of the United States.

Donald Trump is a one of a kind candidate, a successful self promoter, he has been accused of being a con man. Major Newspaper after major Newspaper have written volumes about why he should not be elected to be our President. He has successfully become the candidate of the angry and frustrated American. His supporters care not what he says. They have placed their dreams of change on him to somehow right the ship. They think because he has been a successful businessman that he will somehow fix what they perceive to be wrong with our country. It is kind of like the thinking that Musolini was great because he made the trains run on time. It is like the lady at the VA, yesterday, who said that Trump needs to fix the waiting time at the Veterans Hospital. No one seems to want to wait their turn anymore.

The prospect of a Trump Presidency is too scary to contemplate. His authoritarian bent will lend itself to decisions that would be made by just one person, Donald Trump. Forget our rights under the Constitution and our system of checks and balances, that just gets in the way of the change that he would give us. But is it the change that we want. Like any strongman of every banana Republic, Trump promises order and security but not liberty.

Never in the 225 year history have we faced the prospect of a person such as Donald Trump being President. We have somehow turned back the clock, and now here in America we are facing the same danger that Germany faced when Adolph Hitler was a candidate. They felt that he alone could fix their perceived problems, and help restore their sense of lost pride and feelings of nationalism.

Whether it is the Donald Trump connections to Russia and Putin or his alleged mafia connections or his completely distasteful treatment of women, it does not seem to matter to his supporters. They are nostalgic for an America that we had in 1957. We shall never see that time, again.

For his supporters he makes it all seem so easy. He does not detail how he will fix America, he just promises to make us great, again. Trump divides America and that is where the danger is most acute. He has encouraged racial divide by making it about us against them. It is all the fault of the Mexicans and the Muslims and the women and minorities.

Nowhere does Trump tell his followers that each person has to take personal responsibility for his own life and actions. He does not encourage his followers to work hard to get ahead, it is always about it being someone else’s fault for their condition.

What makes the strategy of Donald Trump any different than what Adolph Hitler did when he came to power in the 1930’s. He blamed the Jews, the Gypsies, the Communists, the Socialists and the disabled for all of their problems.

We face a great danger now that this election will continue to divide America. Will we be able to bind up the nations wounds that have been opened up as a result of the very intentional effort to divide us? This is a question that we can not answer now.

So yes, this is the most important election of all time because our very way of life is at stake. Our values are on the line. The very existence of our democracy is at stake and being tested. So, please vote and send Donald Trump a message. Send him the message that we are a great country. Let him know that we are better when we work together. We are all in this together. Send him the message that we will rebuild America and that our best days are ahead of us. Benjamin Franklin once famously said when asked a question by a lady upon the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention, what do we have Mr. Franklin? Benjamin Franklin said, ” A Republic if we can keep it.” Let us pray that we will keep our Republic.