Jim Thompson
Jim Thompson
By Jim Thompson
HCP columnist
It seems like in every election cycle since 2000, we have been told this is the most important election ever. Excuse me, but I am going to say it again.

The country has run off the rails since those days, to the point now that the train is way out in the woods, far from ribbons of steel.

To my liberal friends I say, “You have had your fun, now let’s get back to being adults. Going forward, we have to make serious and positive decisions that affect many, many lives, many even not in our country.”

The political experiments of the last few years have caused immeasurable harm to citizens of all ages, faiths, genders and creeds.

Candidates don’t get excuses from egregious behavior that continues. It is one thing for a candidate to have made errors of judgment in the past and show they have learned from those and have chosen a better path. It is quite another for a candidate to continue in selfish actions and make excuses.

And I am sorry, we need to elect candidates healthy in mind and body, too. Yes, you can be left leaning or right leaning and be healthy in mind. We mustn’t elect candidates that can’t find the bathroom on their own.

If a candidate can’t accept the foundational pieces of our government, namely, three independent government branches and the Constitution, they should move to someplace that is more to their beliefs and principles – not try to change ours.

I have thought about it a lot and think there are fewer than 100,000 shrill people trying to move our country off its foundational principles. They are clever, again, shrill, and appeal to our baser nature.

What is our baser nature? Many want to look modern and smart and hence will accept any idea that comes down the road, as long as it is “new.” Many will accept any monetary handout, whether they are in need or not. These rogue politicians know this and appeal to the shallow-thinking voter with these goodies.

Your wishes and desires have consequences. When masses of people follow these forbidden fruits, it spells doom for the entire country and beyond.

It only took one shrill and charismatic leader to take people down the path to destruction in several countries in the last century – Lenin in Russia, Hitler in Germany, and Mao in China – just to name the most extreme examples. Populations followed these clever leaders to their doom and often to their death.

We’re better than this.

Lincoln said, “We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.”

Let’s make sure that ecologically, politically and morally, we leave our children something worth having. Vote with your intellect and your heart. Leave your greed and impishness at home on election day.

Jim Thompson, formerly of Marshall, is a graduate of Hillsboro High School and the University of Cincinnati. He resides in Duluth, Ga. and is a columnist for The Highland County Press. He may be reached at [email protected]