“If we don’t get it right in November, this Fourth of July will be the last time we get to celebrate our freedom.”

That’s the text of a meme I’ve seen on Facebook a couple of times. The funny thing is, the two people I remember posting it are on opposing political teams. If I were a betting man I’d be willing to put money that these friends have different ideas of what “getting it right in November” really means.

This is political fatalism and hyperbole, and I reject it, for a few reasons.

First, I don’t need the permission of the state to celebrate my freedom, or to claim or embrace it. Even as more and more laws infringe on our freedoms, I will always find ways to push back.

My freedom doesn’t come from the state, it comes from my Creator. I will celebrate it no matter how much governments try to take it away. Even during the last Presidential cycle, when Peachtree City cancelled Independence Day celebrations due to COVID, I got up on a stage at Drake Field and spoke about the inalienable rights described in the Declaration of Independence, and how they come from our innate being.

The second reason I reject this fatalism is this: We have already survived one term each of Trump and Biden. We can survive one more of either. It won’t be fun, but we can. I don’t look forward to surviving one more of either.

Each of them has a record of authoritarian policy. I know that each party already has plans to make future challenges to their power more difficult if they should win. But they’ve been doing that for years anyway, especially against third parties, and the pendulum always swings. Third parties are still sticking it out against the odds. This meme is designed to inspire fear.

And why inspire that fear? That leads me to my third point of rejection. The purpose of this meme is to manipulate the reader into a feeling of helplessness, of feeling trapped in one of two choices. The meme leaves it up to the reader to decide which of the choices is the right one, though the unspoken implication is, we all know what the right choice is, right?

And this is how we’ve gotten to the point where the two most favored choices for the “top job in America” are two men well past retirement age, one prone to chronic senior moments and the other a chronic liar.

And we all know it. The lesser of two evils leads to the evil of two lessers. When the only real requirement to win is to be able to paint the other side as slightly more undesirable, the bar gets lower, and lower, and lower.

I reject voting out of fear. The vote that is cast out of fear is the truly wasted vote. Our vote is supposed to express what we believe in, not what we fear less.

I’m voting for Chase Oliver (https ://votechaseoliver.com) this year. I believe in his statement that if you aren’t committing force, fraud, violence, or theft, then your life is your life, your body is your body, your business is your business, and your property is your property.

I believe that the best solutions to our social issues don’t come from giving government the power to flog our perceived enemies. I believe that America is great not because of government but because of Americans.

Your vote is your own. I won’t try to threaten you or scare you into voting my way. But I hope that however you vote, you aren’t voting out of fear.

Danny Dolan

Tyrone, Ga.