As another election approaches in the fall, it’s time for the American people to wake up, look in the mirror and ask themselves just what kind of government they want to live under. Will it be a democracy that serves and continues to evolve for all the people of this country? Or will it be some type of authoritarian control that will serve only for those who remain in the favor of the people at the top?

While many citizens rightly feel left behind and ignored by the institutions of government, the only way to change things for the better is to use our democratic freedoms to speak up and convince others to vote for change. Tearing the whole system down is a losing proposition for all of us, and in the end, serves only the individual and groups that seek to make the change.

For almost 250 years, our Constitution has continued to evolve to provide many groups with increasing rights to vote, participate more fully in the strongest economy in the world and live their lives under the protection of a rule of law that applies for everyone, not just a few at the top. The rule of law is incompatible with an authoritarian form of government and if we lose it, so too will we lose our right to speak freely to critique the government; our free press will be replaced by government-controlled entities that will just parrot the propaganda of the government; and our ability to vote to change the government will be gone.

Just because there are many legislators, judges and political organizations trying to diminish our rights under the Constitution is no reason to throw democracy away. Just because there are many people in the government who willingly repeat propaganda issued by a Russian dictator as he tries to conquer a free democratic neighboring country is no reason for us to stop supporting our friends and allies throughout the world. Isolating ourselves from the rest of the world and ceasing to be the beacon of hope for freedom and democracy to other countries will hurt our country the most. We need our friends and allies throughout the world for both economic and military security. Western Europe is our largest trading partner and NATO is the largest and strongest military alliance in history.

Similarly, we need a strong immigration system to supply the workers to keep our economy growing. Certainly, we have a problem on the southern border, but we also have the means to fix it by electing people to office who will work to solve the problem instead of just using it as a political talking point. History always seems to repeat itself after several generations, and we have been here before. In the 1920s and 30s, dealing with the effects of World War I and the economic devastation of the Depression, isolationism became government policy with restrictive trade policies and military retrenchment.

None of this is to say that our system is perfect; it is not. Too many people in this country are getting left behind as the rich and large corporations exert more and more control over the government. The United States has perhaps the most unfair tax system in the free world, and it won’t change until we, the people, force it to change. Speaking up loudly, voting for candidates that sincerely want to work for change and always maintaining a healthy skepticism of our government leaders and legislators is the only way to guarantee that our constitutional freedoms will continue for our kids, grandkids and into the future. Democracy can only work when we citizens are informed and stay involved in the process. We each must decide which type of government we want – and then vote to make our choice become reality.

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