OPINION: Americans we are - one and all - please vote!

Fri, 10/30/2020 - 12:08pm — John Embry

My son, Will Lincoln, turns eight-years old today, which happens to also be my mom’s birthday. The other night he was at the counter writing down all 50 states (correct spelling and all) and asking me how they typically vote in elections...which party they prefer...Republican or Democrat? It reminded me of when I was a kid. I remember having many sessions like that with my dad and my trusty set of World Book Encyclopedias. While others grew up watching Sesame Street (which I know little about), I mark my childhood remembering Nightline with Ted Koppel, the Irania hostage crisis, Ronald Reagan, and the launch of Ted Turner’s CNN in 1980. I grew up voting with my dad and our kids are doing the same thing. Isabella Faye is quite proud of her Women for Trump flag in her bedroom. I was taught to love America and to be proud of it. Were there bad chapters in our past? Absolutely. Slavery, womens’ rights, Native Americans, etc. are just a few examples from the past. The legal killing of children in the womb is a contemporary example.

I grew up in my parent’s grocery store. Political discourse was rich and it wasn’t all one sided. I also grew up around a lot of folks with different political beliefs and many good Democrats were among the regulars at the store. Debate was intense sometimes and there were instances where tempers flared. But, never in a million years did I attribute someone’s political beliefs as just cause to attack them personally. Nor did I ever doubt their love of country. Americans we were, one and all, and although we disagreed on specifics, we never doubted that our friends on the other side had only the best intentions at heart.

At our core, we believed in our country, its constitutional founding and the rule of law, despite the not-so-distant turmoil of Watergate and Vietnam. I try to reinforce this belief in my own children.

Will and I recently took a walk around the courthouse yard and we looked at the different monuments. We made our way from the memorial honoring KSP Det. Darrell V. Phelps and KDFWR Officer John C. Martin to the political chaos and violence following the election of Kentucky Gov. William S. Taylor (from Butler County), a little Daniel Morgan and Funkhouser Hill, and finally through the various monuments honoring those who made the ultimate wartime sacrifice for our nation, and concluding with bricks recognizing all who have served. It was a sobering experience and Will asked many questions about it all. He’s curious by nature as most kids are. What did these people do? Did they die? What for? Why were they fighting? Who were they fighting? I did my best to answer him and it prompted a good conversation and concluded with the topic of the upcoming election.

When I think about this exchange and what it represents, it always reminds me of the importance of voting. I’ve often said that not voting is one of the biggest insults you can give to a veteran. We vote because we believe in something bigger than ourselves. We vote because we believe that our nation, as flawed as it may be at times, is important and is worth defending. We vote because we believe our shared tomorrow can be better than our troubles of today. We vote for those who came before us and for those who will come after. We vote for our children and for our family. We vote because we are Americans. Regardless of the outcome of this current election, we are one people, one nation, and we should never forget that. Republicans or Democrats, black or white, rural or urban - we are Americans. Please exercise your constitutional rights on Tuesday, November 3. Vote.