It should come as no surprise that I believe the current incarnation of the Republican Party is not only wrong but dangerous for our country. There seems to be an undercurrent in the minds of the candidates that we must fight religious extremism with religious extremism. Never mind that one of the founding principles of this country is that religious zeal has no place in secular decision making. The concept of keeping the church and state separate is not only right but necessary for religious freedom to exist at all.

The election in 2016, probably more so than any other recent election year, will be a pivotal one to determine the course of our country. We need more young voters to make the effort to get to the polls and vote. To make the decision not to vote is the equivalent of granting silent assent to those who get elected to do as they wish.

The people of this country will only have ourselves to blame if our resources get stretched too thin by going to war against another country. Just pick up a history book about the end of the Roman Empire. You’ll find the parallels to our own situation frighteningly similar.

The warmongers in this country should not be allowed to continue to place our young men and women in harm’s way simply for the sake of their profit. No matter what spin they use to gain your consent, this is the truth behind the push to fight Iran or ISIS or any one of a number of trumped up enemies we can create so the military industrial complex can keep raping our country’s budget for hundreds of billions of dollars.

Vote people because the alternative is to see our country fail because a few people have decided the Treasury of the United States is theirs for the taking and we have no right to stop them.