The most important U.S. elections seem to be those based on character.

The 1860 election pitted Republican Abraham Lincoln against Democrat Stephen Douglas. At the center of the contest was Lincoln’s simple declaration that all men are created equal and that slavery must be abolished in every state. Douglas and two smaller Southern parties insisted that states’ rights were more important than individual rights and so Southern states should decide who should be free and who shouldn’t.

In 2024 character is on the ballot again. The Republican nominee, insisting that states” rights outweigh human rights, pursues policies that make women prisoners in their own bodies and denigrates the humanity of men and women seeking to make America — land of the free — their new home. How we vote will establish, once again, whether as a nation we can put principle above party.

Dennis Perkins

Winslow