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As this editorial is being written, we were just under a day away from knowing anything about our country, state or local future in terms of the 2024 election.

As candidates made last minute pitches, voters around the country were eagerly waiting to see which direction we were trending as a nation. As of this writing, we would have been trying to predict who our local, state and national leaders would be, so we will avoid that particular pitfall.

This has been an exceedingly long road in getting to this point. At every turn there seems to be no shortage of vitriol. The amount of negativity surrounding this year’s General Election is off the charts nationally and sometimes at the state level, and so we’re thankful that our local races have not contained that. It says a lot about our area.

In recent elections, we have stated that elections  were like few others that have come before and unfortunately, we have to say this again.

We’ve seen an increase in commercials, many by super pacs with questionable truth and facts, and each day it seems we’re having a more difficult time even listening to the other side.

With all of this in hand, we are taking this time to once again push to be better. We can’t allow our country to continue taking steps backwards, nor can we throw out misinformation and the level of negativity we’ve witnessed across the political stage.

Each election cycle we’re told by so many that it is our privilege and right to vote and that each vote is a vote for the betterment of our country. It’s time to act like it.

In the past, this country has continued to be strong because its people have come together; however, these last few years have been a struggle to agree on anything the divide has been so wide.

We can do two things: we can either continue down this track and continue to vilify both the Right and Left or we can start breaking down those barriers and actually start doing the work together.

This, of course, will not be easy. We, as a country, have to be willing to denounce what we all know is destructive to the continued thriving of this country. Denounce racism, heighten respect for others even if opinions differ and find common ground. The list of what we can improve on is long and evolving.

Either way, this election is a chance to move the country back in the right direction if we so choose it. Instead of pointing at the other side, point the finger inward and ask what you can do to make the situation better.

This will be an ongoing issue and depending on how the will of the people interprets the future, we have to be willing to call out the lies and untruths from whichever side they are coming from (no side is more innocent than the other in this).

If we want this to continue to be the great country we claim it is, we have to admit to ourselves we’ve been going the wrong way.

We can be better, but in all reality we HAVE to be better. The future of our country relies on all of us coming together and holding rational discussion in the pursuit of rational policy.