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To the editor:

Mr. Musselman, there is nothing tedious about public debate on such a prominent issue. I am an Independent and try to view each candidate on the merits of their voting records and philosophies regarding representing “We, The People”.  This starts right here in Davie County and up to the national elections. I agree with Mr. Carroll, who asks a legitimate question. I would like to see some of those emails, Mr. Carroll, but only if they use critical thinking and are honest assessments of the candidates.

Here some easily verified facts from Wikipedia, Politico and streams of other web-based news:

Biden; Undergrad at University of Delaware, JD from Syracuse University, Senator from 1972-2009, VP twice under Obama, President 2021-present. 81+ years old, no criminal history via a search through Google. I believe this country needs a younger Democratic candidate.

Trump; Undergrad from Penn’s Wharton School, real estate developer, business developer, TV realty host. No previous political experience. Voted POTUS, Jan. 20, 2017-Jan. 20, 2021. First US President in history to face criminal charges, 91 in all. Mr. Trump and several of his adult children along with Trump Organization’s CFO have been convicted in NY Civil Court of operating a decadelong fraud scheme. Mr. Trump has been convicted of sexual abuse and defamation, with two of those three cases settled by a jury. His Trump Organization was convicted of seventeen tax fraud counts by a jury.

He will start a criminal case in NY for violating campaign finance laws regarding alleged hush money he paid associated with a sexual tryst with a woman while he was married. Then, there is a RICO case against him in Georgia, the indictment in DC brought against him for election interference (January 6th, 2021), the indictment in Florida where the DOJ has charged Trump with thirty-seven felonies for willfully taking national-security information, obstruction of justice, withholding of documents and false statements.

In days gone by, this type of candidate wouldn’t show their face in public.

“It is the border” cannot be the main reason to elect someone. While the government’s position has been dismal for almost 50 years, it has been both parties not addressing the hard issues that need to balance the humane leadership that this country stands for and the no-nonsense needs of its current citizenry.

We are losing some educated, experienced lawmakers because of the chaos produced by the Freedom Caucus, aka, the MAGA Squad. It is obvious our voters are getting their information from glitzy TV ads, “calls to arms”, extremist media outlets or sound bites, whether true or not.

What really frightens me, however, is our education system. This system is being undermined by low pay, constrained budgets, school voucher choice, government intrusion and school board takeovers by extremists. Civics lessons are either deleted or so washed over that they do not educate our children regarding our country’s formation, history and involvement in world affairs, warts and all.

Several late-night hosts over the years have done on-street interviews with people (non-political) and asked them basic questions that were on the Naturalization Test immigrants take to gain citizenship. Considering the number of wrong answers produced in those unscientific “polls”, Mr. Carroll, the electorate appears not to have the knowledge nor the resources to vote for strong leaders.

Christian Anderson

Mocksville