(I write this on this year’s Juneteenth). Americans can right the listing ship of American democracy that is now close to capsizing. Citizens have the power to do it, but it means that citizens must get out and vote at every opportunity this year, even if all the gerrymandering in the world says that you can’t win, even if Draco-II sends his private army (ICE) or the military to the polls to intimate you against voting, even if you fear for your safety: it is your democratic responsibility; double-check your voter registration weekly, I do.

Every single candidate that agrees with or pushes the fascism of the far-right, that thinks Draco-II is of right-mind, that thinks MAGA is good, that thinks Project 2025 and White Christian Nationalism is not racist and has “good people” associated with it, or that thinks Draco-II and his minions and sycophants are pro “we the people” must be defeated. Candidates who fight against unity, solidarity, diversity, equity, and inclusion in pursuit of division, separation, selfishness, and greed, who support policies of the current administration that have caused economic pain for the poor both in American and around the world, who agrees with or condones taking violent action as the first stage of a conflict resolution instead of working within the law or diplomatically-first towards a better outcome, who thinks that desecrating public property for ego-based purposes is OK, who agrees to give away public land to private interests, who agrees that DOGE should destroy federal departments and lay off thousands of employees for no reason, or who agrees that “white people” are being oppressed and should therefore blame others for their woes must never be empowered again. Candidates who are business-first before being democracy or planet-first, who agree that corporations should have equal rights as red-blooded citizens, who agree with SCOTUS that POTUS is above the law, who agree or condone the skirting or outright ignoring of the law by Draco-II and his minions should never again guide a democracy supposed to work for ALL the people.

To think that just voting Democratic is going to fix things is as mentally delusional as Draco-II. Yet, voting pro-MAGA, pro-Project 2025, pro-White Christian Nationalism and supremacy only GUARANTEES that the American democratic experiment is finished, over, caput, and gives no chance of righting the listing ship of American democracy. The votes in the remaining months of 2026 will determine who has power far into the future, whether or not America becomes a more united group of states or not, whether the citizenry decides against hate and division or acquiesces to it, or whether Americans want to live on a planet that is our partner and support system and who we must re-prioritize first in all decisions.

America needs to get its freedom back, torn away by current oppressors, so that we can once again sing that old spiritual song “free at last, free at last, thank God almighty we’re free at last”!

Bob Bates

Tullahoma