“All politics is local,” so the saying goes. I challenge that cliche.

This year, all politics is national. This year, people must look beyond any candidate’s local usefulness, history of service or personal appeal in making their choice in the voting booth. This year, only party labels matter.

The present Republican Party bears no resemblance to the unprincipled, rudderless lot voters “fired” in 2006.

The present Democratic Party bears no resemblance to yesterday’s social-welfare and nanny-state engineers.

Distinctions between the parties and between their intentions for the country could not be any greater. I hope voters will keep those distinctions in mind this November.

Choose any Democrat and you empower a group that believes free-market capitalism bears responsibility for the world’s evils and must be replaced with central state planning by the elite. The Constitution exists as an out-of-date document granting too much freedom of choice to a people too stupid to deserve it. It unwisely frustrates the ability of the ruling class to control people for their own good.

Choose any Republican and you empower a group which believes the political system and free-market capitalism together made the world an infinitely better place. The Constitution exists as a triumph of the founding fathers’ political genius. It codifies freedoms God himself gave us and wisely restricts government from abridging those liberties.

This election will either hasten the collapse of the present system or call for its rejuvenation.

This election is national.

Leonard Hoy, Greenwood