I grew up in Kenosha, a city in the very corner of Southern Wisconsin. It was the home of the Rambler and was once written up in Playboy as Sin City, USA. The year was 1980 and there was a hotly contested Mayoral election between John Bilotti challenging Paul Saftig. I was sitting around, watching TV about an hour before the polls closed, I decided to vote. I had never voted before so I made sure I had my driver's license and a current gas and electric bill to show proof of residency. I registered right there at my polling place which just happened to be Saint Joseph High School just two blocks from where I lived. I voted that night for John Bilotti. When I got up the next morning I saw the guy that I voted for won by one vote. No one will ever convince me that my one vote didn't matter. From that day on I have voted in every election since then. 

Since that day I have also been in favor of making it easier to vote, not harder. I was able to register to vote, even on election night, at the polls. I needed an ID to register, then every year after all I had to do was give them my name and verify my address and I was able to vote. 

Every year some people want to make it harder to vote. First Voter ID's at the polls and now people are screaming for proof of citizenship. They scream it to stop voter fraud when there is no proof of voter fraud. What they are doing is trying to discourage people from voting. That was done in the past with all the Jim Crow laws that were meant to stop Blacks from voting. Today they want to discourage all minorities from voting. I have friends who deny that, they always say, "voter fraud, if people have nothing to hide they should not have a problem showing an approved ID". I have a problem with the approved ID thing. A person votes for 60 years and then all of a sudden they need an approved voter ID. They are the same person who voted the year before without an ID, and then the next year they need an approved voter ID. Getting that ID can be an inconvenient thing to do depending on the location of the office where you have to obtain it. Yes, a driver's license works but not everyone has one and now they need to get an ID that they never needed before. That is one of the ways how voter suppression starts. Now people say we should be showing proof of citizenship? What's next? DNA test? This is the 21st century. We have all kinds of conveniences that make our lives better. We have the Internet and communications systems my father who died in 1970 never saw. We shop, we do our banking, we can go to school, and we go to the library without leaving the house. We can do almost everything without leaving our homes. 

With all the advancements we have why are we trying to go backward when it comes to voting. To me, there is only one answer and that answer is voter suppression. Our Founding Fathers wanted a participative government. They already had a Monarchy and wanted to try something that had never been done before. A Government of the People, By the People, and For the People. They already had an army that did the bidding of that Monarchy to suppress the people and to suppress their freedoms and liberties. We the People must be demanding the government not disenfranchise the voters but work harder so the Government encourages us all to participate no matter the color, religion, or creed they are. Participation in Government is what our Founding Fathers fought for and developed and We the People should never settle for less. 

We are now approaching another Presidential election, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. It is not like any other election in my lifetime. To me if you are a person that really believes in the vision of our Founding Fathers and our Constitution there can be only one choice and that choice should be for Kamala Harris. You see Donald Trump scares the hell out of me. Never in my lifetime have I heard the opposing political party called the "enemy of the people" as Donald Trump has called the Democrats. Never have I heard a political candidate call the people that don't support him the "enemy within" as Donald Trump has. Never in my lifetime have I heard a political candidate running for President say there will be a "blood bath" if he is not elected as Donald Trump has stated. Never have I heard a political candidate call for Military Tribunals for people who opposed him as Donald Trump has stated. To me Donald Trump doesn't want to return us to the the 1950s. To me Donald Trump wants to return is to pre-1776. He doesn't share the vision our Founding Fathers had of a "Govenment for the People". What he wants is a Govenment for "Donald Trump". He wants to be a King, like King George, and not a President, like George Washington. 

Trump has called Kamala a Fascist, a Communist and a Marxist. I can only think that they call her that because of some of her socialists ideals. Kamala has called Donald Trump a Fascist but then so have I. If you wonder why anyone would call Trump a Fascist just go back and read the last paragraph. Trump sounds like a Fascist Dictator and not a Person that wants to be a President. Never once have I heard Trump saying that he will work with Congress. Trump has called for Unity but, you don't want Unity when you label those that don't agree with you as the "enemy within". Calling for Military Tribunals is not a call for Unity. Trump held a rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The hate and racism that many of us has associstated with the Trump campaign was very apparent for the world to see. The hatred for the Latino Americans was there for the world to see. The people of Puerto Rico were called garbage. The people that live in Puerto Rico are citizens of the United States. Trump doesn't talk about what he will do for the country. He talks about the people that he will attack and punish. He is a man that wants UnChecked power when our system is suppose to be one of "Checks and Balances".

I have people talk about the failures of the Biden administration and yes there have been a few but those failures are not what they are talking about. In fact I really don't know what failures they are talking about. They can't be talking about his historic Infastructure Bill because there has been a ton of Republicans that voted against it that are now taking credit for the projects it has brought to their States. They can't be talking about oil production because we actually export more than we import. I know that they talk about inflation being the Biden admistration's fault even though our inflation is some of the lowest in the World. The Democrats introduced some anti-price gouging legislation, the Republicans would not support that. I think the Repubublicans would rather have the American People suffer than work with the Democrats to solve problems. I know they talk about the Biden's adminstration's failure to solve the border problem but that is just a lie. The Biden administration actually worked with the Republicans, in the Senate, to come up with a bipartisan bill to solve the border problem but the House, under the instructions of Donald Trump, wouldn't bring it to the floor for debate. Why? So they could continue to lie to the American People about the border? So Trump could blame Biden for a border problem the Republicans refused to fix? To me the real failure is the Republican Party working for Trump and refusing to work for the Amercan People.

I am getting on a plane and I am heading to the Northwoods for a little bit of grouse hunting with my sons, grandson, and brother-in-law. This is my last writing before the election. This country is at a crossroads where we have to decide if we want to continue as a democracy or if we want to scrap the vision that was our Founding Fathers. I have never seen or heard such hate that I have seen from the Republican Party. I have never heard so much talk about the suppression of people instead of uplifting them. I have never seen so many smiles filled with hate behind them. Yes, we have an election and it just may be the most important election in our lifetime.