I am 77 years old. I was born after my father’s return from World War II, where he landed on Normandy June 6, 1944. I was raised in a blue collar family, with two brothers and two sisters. As a family we had our good times and our bad. Dad fell at work, broke his back, and lost his job. We lost everything, house, car. Any security we felt disappeared.
As a group we all pitched in and after a few years we managed to get back a semblance of stability in our lives.
With no money for college, I joined the U.S. Air Force. I served 36 years, eight in the Air Force, with tours in Vietnam and Thailand, plus 28 years in the Ohio Air National Guard at Toledo Express Airport. After my retirement from the military, I attended Winebrenner Theological Seminary at the University of Findlay, where I graduated with a master’s degree in Family Ministry.
People, this great country that my father and I fought for is in trouble, and we need to fix it now.
Twelve average U.S. citizens swore to judge fairly the evidence presented to them and to reach a verdict in a trial that received nationwide attention. For the first time in our country’s history a former president was found guilty of numerous felonies.
Instead of accepting this verdict as valid, a large number of citizens, including federal politicians, saw fit to disregard the facts. The system worked as designed and should be respected. These jurors had nothing to gain by voting guilty. Now we find they are being hunted down with threats to their lives for voting as their conscience said they should.
This country is better than this. Those of us who do not want to see our country dissolve into some sort of autocracy need to stand up. We need to support elected leaders who do not throw hissy fits just because they don’t get their way.
Work to vote these “hissy fit” candidates out of office.
The time is now, people. If we want to have other countries in the world to continue to look at the U.S.A. as a shining star, we need to turn things around at the ballot box.
First Published June 6, 2024, 4:00 a.m.
