Only a couple weeks out from an election, not in my lifetime have I seen our country more divided.

As Americans, I believe getting past this hateful period is fundamental for the sake of our country.

Our great nation was founded on putting the power to govern ourselves in the hands of the people and electing leaders who would carry out our will and manage our government in a responsible manner.

Politics, more than any other factor, is dividing us in half.

And, although you can say it many ways, Patrick Henry said in his last public speech in 1799, “Let us trust in God and our better judgment to set us right hereafter. United we stand, divided we fall.”

That pretty much sums it up.

Do you think our future will be brighter if we continue down this course of division or if we change directions and unite by working together as a people and as a government?

I believe the answer is obvious.

As I see it, politics is the problem, specifically the two major parties who put so much effort into fighting with each other for whatever reasons — either to gain or regain political power, to seek reelection at the expense of solving problems — and dividing us into small political tribes which they can use to reach their partisan goals.

I watch the political polls week after week. I see numbers based on who is leading among men or women voters, who is leading among the Black or Hispanic vote, who is leading among college-educated voters, union members, or based on the age of voters.

Last time I checked, we were all Americans, living side by side, traveling the same roads, sending our children to the same schools, breathing the same air.

I believe we have so much more in common than politicians will admit.

We want our country to be defended against our enemies. We want our constitutional freedoms to be upheld. We want equal opportunity, good jobs, good schools, and safe neighborhoods. We want clean air and water and safe food. We want good roads, safe bridges, and affordable energy. We want law and order. We want Congress to use our money wisely, without waste and trillions of dollars in national debt.

In short, we want to leave this country better off for our children than the country that was left to us.

I also watch the approval ratings that reveal how the people feel about how their government is doing.

As of August, Congress had an approval rating of 19% — or, better put, 81% of us do NOT approve of the job they are doing.

Why, then, do we continue to reelect them?

Just two years ago, with a similar disapproval rating of 80%, we reelected 95% of the U.S. House incumbents and 100% of the U.S. Senate incumbents.

And where do we see the greatest amount of division in our country? We see it in the House and the Senate.

Yet we rehire them almost unanimously.

So now let’s look at us.

Gallup reported in September that 29% of us identified as Republicans, 30% identified as Democrats, and 40% identified as independents. The largest share of us are independent thinkers, yet the House and Senate have a clear majority of partisan dividers.

Why isn’t government more reflective of Americans?

Again, I think that must end.

Congress has its hands full as we are trying to cope with two major hurricanes, still searching for hundreds still missing and just starting to get an idea of the devastation and costs the two storms created, yet Congress — who hasn’t even passed the 2025 budget, which was due last month — took six weeks off to campaign.

If they are unable to pass a budget, what good are they?

Now would be a good time, as the election approaches, to send most of them home.

It’s exactly what our bosses would do to us if we weren’t doing our job. Well, folks, guess who is Congress’s boss? We are. We hired them. Why can’t we fire them?

The time has come for us to take a stand, to tell Washington to get back to work and do the job they were hired to do.

What’s that, you ask?

Let’s start with immigration reform to create policies that work for this century, not the last one. Let’s shore up Medicare and Social Security once and for all and stop kicking the can down the road. Let’s demand Congress gives us a government we need and can afford and to stop placing trillions of dollars of debt on our grandchildren. Let’s rebuild the military numbers by paying a living wage to our military personnel. Let’s again climb to the top of the world in education. Let’s close the tax loopholes and stop subsidizing big business. And isn’t it time for election reform to remove big money from the process? We have had a “war on poverty” and a “war on drugs.” How about a “war on crime”?

The list is endless.

Dammit, Congress, enough is enough. Do the work or go home. The American people need your full attention right now! End the infighting. Our country needs a reset, and you, if you finally see what your division is doing, should focus all your energy on uniting us with a common vision and clear plan that will finally show us you care about this country as much as We The People do.

If not now, when?

– Alpena News