1. United States
2. R.I.
3. Letter

As depressing as it is to say, 2024 is a crossroads of destiny. The fate of the noble experiment that is the United States hinges on this year's election. I ask the men and women of Congress to think of themselves as the Sentinels of Democracy, and not just representatives of their constituents. If your constituents would have you set the Constitution alight, would you do that for them? If they genuinely tell you to bind them in chains, would you not decline because you know they're asking you to act against their own best interests? Democrat or Republican means nothing. We must all be American, united in the purpose of keeping this country from collapsing in on itself. We must not be beholden to party, or wealth, or religion. Those differences are what make America what it is. A place where people with differing beliefs can coexist, and work together through measured debate and compromise. You Congresspeople, with your sacred duty, sitting in the hallowed halls of the Capitol, are the first and last line of defense. Use your power and your platform to preach to your fellow Americans. Do not just parrot the things they say, or tell them what they want to hear. You can tell them that polarization and alienation is not the course we ought to take as a nation. You can act with decency and decorum to restore the trust in government that has been so damaged, rather than continuing to fuel it. Some of you claim that America is great. That it always has been. That it is God's chosen nation. I ask you to consider that it isn't, but that it can be. That you can play a part in making it so. If your names will one day be recorded in the annals of history, I hope you will do what is right. That you will do what it takes to be remembered as they who safeguarded American democracy, rather than they who destroyed it. If you want to disagree or bicker, so be it. Those disagreements are essential. But please be humble. Accept that you can be wrong. That you might be. That your opponents might speak true, and that you can learn from them. Absolute consensus isn't possible, but if you're going to continue to be at odds, please let it be after a rare moment of unity. One where you can save the very nation that allows you to engage in such discourse. There is yet time for you all to act, and I plead that you do. An alarming number of people of this nation are asking you to take the torch to the Constitution. More Americans than should be tolerable would put themselves and their fellows into bondage this Fall. Please don't sit back and allow that to happen, simply doing their bidding. Do not roll over and act against their best interests simply because they do not understand and are asking you to. Do what is right, and the American people will be eternally grateful, even if the Enemy has convinced them you have done wrong. History will remember you fondly. Be responsible. Be mature. Be righteous. Be godly. Be humble. Be American.