This new year begins with the reality facing us: The almost certain presidential nominee of one of our two major parties has no sense of public responsibility, traffics in lies, vengeance and cruelty, and has been indicted on a total 91 felony counts in four federal and state jurisdictions.

Whenever he speaks, he reveals himself to be a practiced demagogue and aspiring dictator. Claiming to be the victim is his way of victimizing others. “They are not after me,” he tells his followers. “They are after you and I’m standing in their way.”

For tens of millions, he gives vent to frustrations, grievances and confusions that have so preoccupied them, they don’t understand that if he regains power, American democracy will end. The saddest thing is that Republican politicians have abandoned their moral principles to gain favor with his followers.

2024 will be a year in which, as Lincoln had occasion to say more than a century and a half ago, “We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of Earth.”

Edward Packard

Durango