OPINION:
Not since the late 1880s have we had a presidential election where each candidate has a White House record to run on. Not since President Theodore Roosevelt has a former chief executive attempted to win a nonconsecutive term, and not since 1892 has that been accomplished. It’s been more than 50 years since a presidential candidate obtained the nomination without being elected through a single primary or caucus.
Then as now, this is the result of an unpopular president bowing out of the race.
The uniqueness of this national journey we’ve been on is part of what makes the choice we face interesting. It also makes it consequential.
The choice is about more than one person. It is about a way of life.
The same people who are telling you that former President Donald Trump is unstable and suffering from cognitive decline covered up the mental and physical condition of the sitting president for nearly four years.
The same people who are calling Mr. Trump a fascist instituted vaccine mandates that led to millions of Americans being fired or forced to surrender their bodily autonomy.
The same people who rail against Republicans over women’s rights are trying to destroy the right to privacy for women and girls through executive action and erode parental rights as part of a dangerous campaign to normalize gender dysphoria.
The same people who want you to think that Republicans are the purveyors of political violence want you to forget the destruction of the Black Lives Matter riots, the pro-Hamas riots, the antisemitism, the gang violence and the other devastating human impacts of their policies.
The same people who want you to think Mr. Trump is a dictator collapsed the southern border with 94 executive orders leading to death and destruction. They attempted to unilaterally and in violation of the law cancel billions in student loan debt, unilaterally prevent property owners from evicting tenants for not paying rent and impose their radical social agenda on school systems.
The same people who tell you that mean tweets are unconscionable want to police your pronouns and speech and get you fired for microaggressions.
They’re the same people who have created a protected class of government bureaucrats that make more money and have better benefits than private sector workers with virtually no accountability.
The same people who tell you that Republicans and conservatives are intolerant and racist have built and used a censorship complex and cancel culture, both of which are antithetical to free speech.
The same people who compared Mr. Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally to a pro-Nazi event there in 1939 want you to ignore the fact that Bill Clinton accepted the Democratic presidential nomination in the arena in 1992.
They’re the same people who want to institutionalize discrimination and force religious institutions to violate their beliefs, even using the FBI to infiltrate churches and brand Catholics as domestic extremists.
The same Democrats who say Mr. Trump is out for revenge used the government to spy on his campaign, concocted two sham impeachments and the phony Russia collusion narrative and ripped the blindfold off Lady Justice to make lawfare against their political opponents. They are still trying to put Mr. Trump in prison.
The same people who are telling you that Mr. Trump is a fascist have already told you that if they win, they will change the rules of the Senate to ensure their agenda is passed. They will pack the Supreme Court with justices to contort the Constitution to fit their agenda and attempt to wipe clean the genius of our founders by eliminating the Electoral College.
The same people who will compare Mr. Trump to a mass murderer have facilitated more death at the hands of drug cartels and foreign criminals and the degradation of our judicial system than any other administration in history.
The same people who yell about preserving our democracy oppose requiring voter ID and vote against blocking noncitizens from voting.
All this talk about democracy is no accident. They’re not just showing their true colors by calling Americans who disagree with them garbage. They want a true democracy where it will be easier for them to upend the freedoms that are foundations of American greatness.
Remember, as we make this choice, that we don’t live in a democracy by design. We live in a republic, if we can keep it. John Adams said clearly about simple majority rule: “Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself.”
The choice is not are you better off today than you were four years ago. It’s whether you will have more freedom and prosperity four years from now. It’s a choice between the people whose stock and trade is conning you about what’s happening in this country or those willing to stand up to the dangerous excesses of the state for the sake of our freedoms.
That’s the choice we have to make. The way we vote is a test of whether we are worthy to live in a free society or whether we are willing to be led by ideologies and forces that are shadowy reflections of the despotism we’ve fought so hard prevent from crushing this Great Experiment we call America.
Choose wisely.
• Tom Basile is the host of “America Right Now” on Newsmax TV and is a columnist with The Washington Times.
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