To the Editor:

For all the hand-wringing about the 2 men running for President, this election really isn’t about them. It’s about us … our families, our freedoms, our futures.

Republicans want to end health insurance for millions, undertake mass arrests and deportations, stand idly by as the planet warms, allow more mass shootings, institute tariffs that drive up the price of everything, issue pardons for insurrectionists, and give new deficit-driving tax cuts to the wealthy. Don’t take my word for it. Check out “Project 2025, their 900+ page playbook for dismantling democracy and our economic stability.

In contrast, the Democrats want to continue creating an economy that works for average Americans, where children are safe in schools, where women can make their own healthcare decisions, where we’re free to practice a religion of our choosing and read the book we want, where we can access life-saving healthcare, where we can love whom we want and where white supremacy is finally relegated to the dust bins of history.

Your vote this fall could not be more consequential. The contrast could not be more stark. Hope, equality, and prosperity; or hate, chaos, violence, and trauma. Choose wisely, with your children’s and grandchildren’s futures in mind.

Maryann Larson

Bangor

Editor’s note: This letter was received prior to the change in presidential candidates. Nevertheless, the point of the letter is timely.