These are the times that try our souls.
A divided nation must resolve its divisions.
History has two methods: ballots, or bullets.
The choice should be clear. Americans have already shed too much blood—from all political persuasions, all races and religions, all colors and creeds—to abandon the freedom to vote that has defined our democracy. It’s not a partisan choice: it’s the treasured legacy of our American Founders. Let’s vote.
But we’ve spent decades boosting guns and barring ballots. Our campaign ads feature gunfire shredding law books, gun sights locked on adversaries, decapitations of rivals. State legislatures adopt autocracy’s playbook: manufacturing—in targeted precincts—long lines, limited hours, registration purges, dropbox limits, fraudulent audits, and partisan processes, all built on strategic lies and false conspiracies.
And now we have violent mobs to storm our Capitol, hang our vice president, and reverse elections.
In candor, this darkness emerges from one of our parties and one end of the spectrum.
But that misses the point.
Because inevitably, how we resolve disputes is a collective decision—a compact among ourselves. Inevitably, that compact will govern all of us and our future together. So together, Americans of good faith from all parties and interests must choose a common culture and a shared set of rules.
Votes, or violence: it is time for us to choose. While we still can.