It is with dismay when I hear friends, family members, acquaintances and voters expressing voters’ remorse. I have heard said, “This is not what I voted for.” I also have been told, “I’m a Democrat (or I’m a Republican) and have always voted as such, thinking I was voting for what was in the best interest of our country.”

Because many of these people are friends and relatives, in not wanting to offend them I offer little more than that I understand. But I do think to myself: They did get what they voted for. As Americans with the right to vote, it is our responsibility to understand and know what we are voting for.

We need to educate ourselves in the basics of U.S. government, our Constitution, economics and U.S. history. We need to study the history and character of the people we are voting for. Without this knowledge, we cannot responsibly vote with an understanding of what is within a politician’s power to fulfill a campaign promise or what is simply campaign hyperbole.

Midterm elections are less than one year away — our opportunity to bring back greatness to our country and political system. Next November we will again have the chance to judge the very politicians who have permitted this assault on what is thought of as the best political system in the free world: a Democratic Republic.

Bill Lauff,

Connoquenessing Township