Our country stands on the doorstep of a great revival. We haven’t seen these kinds of numbers and optimism in some time. Yet we’re corralled by what seems like the beginnings of a political and ideological civil war, one that threatens the very foundations of this great republic.

A plainspoken and populist president was elected in one of the most contentious political contests in more than 200 years, and this has upset the balance between an entrenched establishment bureaucracy in Washington and the folks they’re supposed to be representing.

Consequently, “We the People” now face a choice. Do we require our elected officials to work together and address the issues of liberty, opportunity and prosperity for all Americans? Or do we allow this critical discourse to descend into a pointless and even confrontational experiment in the futility of identity and propaganda politics?

Our choices today will either inspire or impede our posterity. And the actual history of our nation, for all of its inherent goodness (and sin), will either continue to serve as a benchmark for human freedom around the globe, or be discarded and rewritten to the ultimate benefit of the true fascists.

Fred Comella