The last time I wrote a column on my concerns about one of the presidential candidates it was 2020 and my publisher at the time wouldn’t run it.

Might offend the readers, was the reason I got from him.

So I put my opinion piece on Facebook, and offended all my high school friends.

No regrets. 

Sometimes you just have to say what needs to be said. Because you consider it a responsibility. And because you want to sleep at night.

So here we are again.

This time I will attempt to be more circumspect:

All who are seriously considering who best can serve our country as president should look at the words, the actions and the promises of each candidate.

Has that candidate led a life of integrity?

Is that candidate honest? Moral?

Does that candidate speak truth? With kindness?

Is that candidate empathetic to those who work, those who serve, those with handicaps, those who are minorities, those who are less privileged?

By now, it is probably, hopefully pretty obvious where I’m going.

But I can be more clear from another angle:

Does the candidate call people names?

Does the candidate denigrate the people and institutions that keep our country free such as judges and courts and election workers and people who’ve fought for our freedom?

Does the candidate tell lies? Repeatedly? Even when proven false? Repeatedly?

Did the candidate instigate an attack on senators and congressmen and the vice president in no less than our nation’s capitol (I watched it unfold in real time and there is absolutely no doubt in my mind who is responsible and who could have stopped it much earlier)?

OK, so circumspect is out the window.

Has the candidate broken the law? If so, how many times?

Has the candidate been proven guilty in a court of law by a jury of peers?

Does the candidate have multiple charges still pending in courts of law?

Does the candidate use words like “bloodbath” when talking about election fall-out?

For those who still believe the candidate who says the media makes up fake news, you now have the opportunity to listen to the candidates without the filter of the press.

Go on YouTube and listen to the debates. Listen to the rallies. Then look up the facts. Read the Tweets. Watch the ads. Read the emails asking for donations. The difference is beyond belief. 

One candidate is fit for office. The other is clearly not.

This is not a one-issue campaign. Abortion is wrong but there are more ways to fight it. Education, for one.

Keeping our constitutional order, with the executive, judicial and legislative branches in balance, can only be done by electing moral leaders.

Despite all odds, that same presidential candidate I wrote about in 2020, Donald Trump, is on the ballot, after having done things even more egregious than the things I was concerned about the last time.

A state like Utah, where high morals and ideals seem to be embraced, can show the world we truly believe in those high morals and ideals by voting for Kamala Harris, the candidate who cares about people, who cares about the law, who can keep our alliances strong.

This election will show the world who we really are. 

Let’s not do what they’re expecting us to do, Utah.

Let’s do what’s right.

Louise R. Shaw is a writer and photographer whose work was featured at the Lamplight Gallery. She is an avid traveler and currently lives with her husband in St. George.λ