Update at Close of Summer 2020

"I appeal to you again to constantly bear in mind that with you, and not with politicians, not with Presidents, not with office-seekers, but with you, is the question, ‘Shall the Union and shall the liberties of this country be preserved to the latest generation?'” – Abraham Lincoln

This quote strikes me as being as relevant today as it was when President Lincoln first spoke it on February 11, 1861. Two months later, on April 12th, the first shot was fired at Fort Sumter, South Carolina. For the next four years, American suffered through a bloody Civil War that took the lives of over 655,000 men. Many wondered if the country could endure it and emerge as one country.

Though we are not in a Civil War today, I think many people are experiencing similar doubts about our ability to maintain our Union. The ongoing violence and anarchy in major U.S. cities continue to remind us of deep division of opinion and uncertainty about the future. Whether or not we can preserve our Union is ultimately up to each individual citizen because it is the citizens who choose those who will govern. Each of us must make a choice starting with the choice to register to vote and then show up and cast our vote. The people who live in the cities that have, and still are, dealing with riots and looting, without interruption by local government, are getting the government they voted for. This is true for every election at every level of government. You get what you vote for.

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