Will we lose the republic that made the U.S. the 'last great hope?'

To The Daily Sun,

Voters might heed the thoughts of Dowager Countess of Grantham in "Downton Abbey."

The Dowager: "For years I have watched governments take control of our lives, and their argument is always the same: fewer costs, greater efficiency. But the result is the same, too. Less control by the people, more control by the state, until the individual's own wishes count for nothing. That is why the barons made King John sign the Magna Carta ...."

Lady Rosamund: "Mama, we're not living in 1215. And the strength of great families like ours is going; that's just fact."

Dowager, Countess of Grantham: "Your great-grandchildren won't thank you when the state is all-powerful because we didn't fight."

Voters might recall the dialogue between Benjamin Franklin and a citizen when the former emerged from the conference in Philadelphia:

Citizen: "What have got Dr. Franklin?"

Franklin: "A republic....if you can keep it.?

Depending upon on the voters, the republic will be preserved, or they will prove Dr. Franklin correct and lose the republic that made this country Lincoln's "last great hope of mankind" proving also the truth of the Dowager's words.

Bill Dunnell

Holderness