Editor, Times-Union: There is a saying in many sports that goes something like this: “Don’t play mad.” When I listen to the people around me speak about the candidates for our next president, it seems many are making their minds up based on anger against our current president, the economy, radical Muslims or even our border down south. All of this anger leads to people following a new man with a big name that says all the things they might say if they were running for that office. Now as we get closer to the next “Great Election,” one that will surely lead to a couple of new faces on the Supreme Court, it seems almost everyone is angry. I want people to slow down and ask themselves who and what they think will put us on a better pathway to the America we all want for the future, one with freedom, peace and a fair shake for all citizens that live on this land. That takes me to our candidates. Do we want a person that did not send aid to our people that “they” asked to go into harm’s way, and then stretches or bends the truth whenever it seems necessary? Or do we want a person that says it’s time to tax the companies that hire our people until there are no companies left here to hire them, just to pay for whatever the lazy people want? On the other end, do we want a guy that says what many people love to hear “when they are mad,” yet he has only done things in his past that benefit his needs and desires to become even more wealthy by leaving helpless desperate people in his wake? Then there are a couple who have had very little on-the-job experience at any job, much less one with the greatest power on this planet. It seems to me that there are few candidates that have shown true leadership and the ability to govern with wisdom and patience. These men have brought their states to a place where they are running smoother and their people are doing better in their day-to-day lives, yet have been trampled to death by the loudmouth, overbearing promise-them-the-universe candidates. It has been said that many people will vote for the candidate that says and promises them what they want, no matter what that person has done in their past to prove otherwise. So here we go again. The pendulum is going to swing the other way, now it seems without a miracle from God, which we need badly. It looks as if the world will end up with a self-serving, narcissist my-way-or-the-highway, like-it-or-leave-it president of the United States of America, no matter which side wins. Don’t vote mad America, vote with wisdom and patience. The world is depending on US, as in the United States of America. Michael Alspaugh Warsaw, via email
