I believe that the one thing we can all agree on Is that this election might be one of the most important if not the most important in the history of the United States. Why that is true differs widely depending about your political persuasion. I will take that one step further; this is not about Democrats versus Republicans as much as it is about good versus evil. If the progressives win, we are going to see the largest shift towards tyranny since this great nation was founded.

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will lead a move towards strengthening the bureaucracy at the federal level taking more and more power away from the states. Democrat governors like our own Michelle Lujan Grisham will support such a move and gladly relinquish many of the rights reserved for the states.

Several of the candidates running for statewide office have expressed support for the way our governor is running the state and will no doubt provide further legislative support for actions that will ruin our economy and infringe upon our God-given rights. Locally, Siah Hemphill has expressed support for actions that would destroy the extractive industries; limit our access to the forest and wilderness; and infringe upon our right to keep and bear arms.

We know from history that bureaucracies want to treat everyone the same, not equally, but the same. There is a subtle difference but it is significant. Treating people the same means that everybody is subject to the same restrictions, regulations, requirements, whatever it is you want to put in place. Joe Biden has said that we must have a national mandate that everyone wear masks without exception. Treating people equally would give them the ability to make the decision that is best for their situation. South Dakota is different from New York. It should be allowed to deal with the virus in the way that best represents the exposure they have. But the progressives want everyone to do the same thing and that is not equal.

Governor Grisham said in her Thursday night admonition to the children that still won't follow her orders, that we must complete the census in order to get the money that is due to us. Why not let us keep the money that we earn, not only in our pockets but also in our state? As Nancy Pelosi said a few years ago they must collect $1.72 in order to return $1 to the states. I believe that number is much higher, and I cannot for the life of me understand why many of our fellow citizens don't realize keeping our money would be the better option. The only reason that anyone would support a scheme like this is because of the power they attain In that type of system.

It is a sad statement that so many of our citizens do not know the history of countries that lived under a system which gave the most power not only to a centralized government but to a single party to run that government. It naturally leads to oppression and poverty. We have experienced a taste of a government controlled economy over the last few months. Look at these shortages of goods and services we are experiencing right now. Not just toilet paper but there have been price increases for beef, vehicles, other durable goods, all because production has been artificially limited by the orders put in place under the guise of stopping the spread of a virus. If the progressives gain control of our federal and state governments, we will see an exponential increase in shortages of all goods and services.

We will also see an increase in the number of people dependent upon the government for their income and not because they work for the government, although the number of government employees will increase, but because they are receiving benefits such as welfare. That will also have a corresponding effect of increasing the poverty level in America which for the first time since Lyndon Johnson dropped to 10% in the first 2 1/2 years of President Trump's time in office.

At every level of our government the progressives are doing a good job of taking control and limiting our freedoms. They have support in a significant portion of our population because they claim to want to protect our safety and our health. Many of these people support their actions because as we are finding out, our education system has not allowed parents to be involved because they are indoctrinating our children not educating them. We've seen that with a number of school systems and teachers' unions that have told parents not to teach their children while they're home from school. Or have asked parents not to pay attention to the lessons if they are doing distance learning from home. Just like a cheating spouse that does not want anyone to see the text messages, too many of our teachers in school systems don't want parents to see what's going on in the schools.

I could go on with a list of reasons not to vote for the progressive agenda but I think most of you know those. My urgent hope is that we can turn out at the polls in numbers that are unprecedented. We have to turn out in a way that will negate the efforts that the progressives are making to steal the election. We are already seeing the stories of how the progressives will take every action they can to control and ensure the outcome of the election. It is up to us, the silent and sometimes complacent majority, to awaken and take our country back.