TURNOUT: A nation in trouble

What a sad, shameful, pathetic, disgusting turnout that vote was! In a city of tens of thousands, a mere crowd showed up to vote!

The cornerstone foundation of this country is the right and civic duty of its citizens to actively participate in the most basic and fundamental action they are obligated to perform; VOTE! This country is infected with apathy and abject laziness and carelessness toward ensuring this Republic survives. The admonitions and warnings from our founders are replete and expansive demanding the eternal and watchful vigilance over the affairs of this country by its own citizens. When that duty and obligation is ignored, it is axiomatic that a government of the people, by the people and for the people no longer exists.

In the final days of the creation of the Constitution of the United States, Benjamin Franklin was asked by a curious citizen, “Sir? What have you created?” Franklin responded, “A Republic if you can keep it!”

As Veterans Day quickly approaches, I’ll celebrate my fellow brothers and sisters in arms with sincere gratitude and appreciation but with the shadow of sadness in the realization of thinking that the citizens of this country are no longer worthy of keeping this Republic.

RICHARD LEE

Coeur d’Alene