Late Saturday afternoon, my wife and I made the 45-minute trek to Colerain to watch over our grandson while Danielle and friends went out to dinner to celebrate my son-in-law’s birthday.

Any time the opportunity presents itself to spend time with my grandson is a good day. Brody, now a few months over the age of two, is fast learning about his environment. He’s talking more, and learning more with each passing day. And it should go without saying that at age two he’s full of energy. After just a couple of laps of our “race” (that’s what he refers to him steering a Thomas the Train push toy while I give chase on a similar toy – “Dumbo” the elephant) through the living room, kitchen, hallway and back to the living room, this old granddaddy collapsed on the couch.

As I look into his innocent eyes and marvel at his big, happy grin, I see a child without a care in the world. What he doesn’t see within his confined environment is the world around him…one that changes each and every day.

What he doesn’t realize is how the pending election of a new president will go a long way in determining his future.

Our nation is so divided. Honestly, we haven’t enjoyed a unifying president since the days of Ronald Reagan.

The person who will occupy 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for the next four, possibly eight, years faces a huge task to tackle. He or she will inherit the nation’s biggest deficit in our history. He or she will be responsible for protecting our borders while maintaining America’s strong military presence overseas. He or she will have to continue to be faithful to our allies and show intestinal fortitude when it comes to drawing the proverbial line in the sand against our enemies.

Our next president will lead a nation that has changed drastically since the days of Reagan. We have watched our population become more diverse with growing populations of Hispanics and those of the Muslim faith. We are also a nation of equal opportunity, which led our Supreme Court to rule in favor of same-sex marriages.

With the exception of one man, the chance of electing another “unifier” is slim. Our choices are:

Former First Lady/US Senator/Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. I’m not going to mince any words here….she doesn’t deserve the highest office in the land. She’s untrustworthy….beginning with the Whitewater scandal during her days when husband Bill was governor of Arkansas to the current email server situation (with her Benghazi failure in-between). I didn’t support Richard Nixon as a crook…same for Hillary.

Bernie Sanders – A Socialist….enough said.

Marco Rubio – Can’t tell much difference between his age, and ability, and that of my grandson. Thusly he’s way too inexperienced to handle the job.

Donald Trump – The good news is he’s not a politician and not beholding to special interest groups. The bad news is he’s a narcissistic loud mouth who basically doesn’t have anything good to say about anyone except the person staring back at him in the mirror.

Ted Cruz – I like where he stands on the issues, and the fact that he’s not shy when it comes to sticking to his principles, even if it means butting heads with members of his own party. I feel he’s the only candidate that can knock Trump off his lofty perch. Ask the folks in my office, I predicted two weeks ago when Trump was on a roll in the state primaries/caucuses to wait when we got to the states with closed events (voters unable to cross party lines to cast a ballot) and see how Cruz faired. This past Saturday, he laid a licking on Trump in two states (Kansas and Maine, both by double-digit margins). Trump had to hang on to defeat Cruz in two other states (Louisiana by 3% and Kentucky by 4%).

Folks, when you go to the polls next Tuesday or visit one of the early voting locations across the Roanoke-Chowan area, remove the blinders and see the big picture. Cast your ballot not with just your future in mind, but that of your children and grandchildren. We need a leader to bring us back together…not drive a wedge that will further divide us.

 

Cal Bryant is Editor of Roanoke-Chowan Publications. He can be contacted at cal.bryant@r-cnews.com or 252-332-7207.