This election is not about Hillary or Trump; it’s not about conservatism or liberalism; it isn’t even about the economy, immigration, terrorism, racism or gay rights.  This election is a referendum on America.  The question of this election is whether we, the citizens of the United States of America will choose to willfully turn our backs on freedom and the principles that made this country great and have sustained it for over 200 years.  A vote for Hillary Clinton is a vote to abandon freedom, the rule of law, and the Constitution of the United States.  Not because of who Hillary Clinton is, personally, but because of what she represents.  A Hillary Clinton Presidency represents the culmination of a process which began many years ago, accelerated to near completion under the current Administration, and whose completion requires merely that we, as citizens, declare with our votes; “at this point, what does it matter?”

Many Presidents have expanded and abused the Executive power, and corruption is as old as government itself.  When President Obama took office, he vowed to “radically transform America.”  And he has, he has taken Executive overreaching and usurpation of power from the other two branches of government to extreme and frightening levels.  President Obama’s power grabs, along with his open disdain for the rule of law and separation of powers, is unprecedented.  Just as shocking is that many of us, as well as the media, have been so complicit in President Obama’s assault on freedom and the Constitution. The Obama Administration’s open and in-your-face perversion of our Constitutional freedoms and structure is unquestionable: taking Executive action to re-write immigration laws in a way that he, himself, stated was beyond his Constitutional authority; the wholesale, unapologetic spying on Americans through abuse of the Patriot Act; the use of the IRS to target political opponents; bypassing Congress on the Iran deal; restricting the 2nd Amendment; the use of ObamaCare to restrict religious freedom; and many, many more.

It’s bad enough that the Obama Administration has done all of these things, but it has done so openly and unapologetically, implicitly saying “yes, so what; what are you going to do about it?” President Obama has shown himself to be a consummate political bully. The Administration has not even attempted to hide its abuses. The IRS scandal (i.e., targeting conservative opponents of the Administration) illustrates the open disdain and contempt President Obama has for our Constitution and the freedom of our citizens. After making a few half-hearted and futile attempts to blame it on a rogue middle manager, the Obama Administration didn’t even express regret for what it had done, and instead of punishing Lois Lerner, promoted her.

So what does all of this have to do with why electing Hillary Clinton is such a perilous and likely irretrievable act? In addition to the fact that Hillary Clinton was a key member of the Obama Administration, and a key player in many of these abuses, she has made clear that she will continue his policies of lawlessness. Indeed, her only “criticism” of Obama is that he did not go far enough.  Moreover, she has made clear that she intends to take what President Obama has done, even further. Of course, you might think such statements are campaign rhetoric, designed to energize her base.  However, her own personal history of dishonesty, corruption, and criminality makes it crystal clear that such statements are not empty threats, but a warning to all of us that she intends to complete President Obama’s transformation of America into a dictatorship. Secretary Clinton has proven beyond doubt that she believes she is above the law, and can do whatever she wants, without consequences or penalties.

Even if we set aside the many, many questions, rumors, circumstantial evidences, and indications of crimes and conspiracies, those which are beyond question are shocking, to say the least. And with each day that passes, we learn that allegations which sounded like crazy conspiracy theories are not only true, but just the tip of the iceberg. Hillary Clinton openly admits to intentionally deleting E-mails that federal law not only prohibited her from sending and receiving, but also from deleting. She has been surprisingly open about her selling of access and political favors to foreign countries. She has not denied that they paid large sums of money to her foundation, that they received special access, or even that they were given significant political benefit.  Her only real response seems to be, “so what?”

Secretary Clinton left four Americans to die. For 13 hours, she watched the attack unfold in real time. Help and salvation was, at most, just a few hours way.  She did not allow them to die because she was incompetent, but because she undoubtedly wanted the evidence of yet another crime to go away. When questioned, her now infamous response was, “at this point, what does it matter?”  At every turn, Hillary Clinton’s response to any of the allegations and evidences of her crimes and corruption has been the same; “at this point, what does it matter?” President Obama and Secretary Clinton have driven America to the edge of dictatorship.  The only thing left to push us over that edge is for the American people to respond to this threat by voting for Hillary and thereby saying, “at this point, what does it matter?” Our democracy and freedoms are on life support – vote for Hillary, and you pull the plug.  Vote for anyone else, and at least there is hope. We can survive bad decisions and bad Presidents; we have before.  However, we cannot survive destruction of the processes that have kept us free. That is what this election is about.