80 days

80 days to Election Day.

We are in a culture war - a soft war that will determine our country’s future. Our forefathers fought and died for precious freedoms that we take for granted. Those freedoms are under attack, as are values we have long cherished. It seems like every four years someone says this is the most important election of our lifetimes. I am beginning to think that is true every four years, because the country as we know it is at risk every four years from those would turn America into a socialist nation. I learned a new term the other day - the ‘ratchet effect’ - meaning government never loosens any restrictions, but just tightens them further.
 
If you want to save our country - then VOTE.  If you are not registered to vote, stop everything, right now, and register. Go here and register.

If you have not yet requested an absentee ballot, stop everything, right now, and do so. Go here now. As of now we are satisfied that (in North Carolina at least) absentee ballots can be counted fairly. If you later decide to vote in person, you do not have to vote your absentee ballot, but now you must have a backup plan. Ballots will start to be mailed on September 4. 
 
If you want to help save our country, volunteer with the local Republican Party. We are all volunteers; we need your help in making phone calls, staffing the local headquarters, putting out signs, knocking on doors, handing out literature at the polls, and talking to our friends and neighbors. Please consider being a volunteer, and sign up at https://www.chathamncgop.com/volunteer_2020.
 
And finally, a modern fairy tale.
 
The Ant and the Grasshopper (credits to Ann Corcoran and Aileen)
Old Version
The ant works hard in the North Carolina summer heat, maintaining her home and laying in supplies for the winter.
The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.
Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies in the cold.
 
Modern Version
The ant works hard in the North Carolina summer heat, maintaining her home and laying in supplies for the winter.
The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs the summer away.
Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while he is cold and shivering.
North Carolina newspapers, television stations and Antifa show up to take pictures of the shivering grasshopper and post them on their Facebook pages next to a video of the ant in her cozy home with a table filled with food. Chatham progressives are stunned by the contrast.
Occupy the Anthill hires protestors to stage a demonstration on the Historic Courthouse Lawn.
Governor Cooper holds a press conference and publishes an executive order condemning the excesses of the ant, and promises executive action to redistribute the ant’s food. He blames President Trump, Senator Tillis, and every conservative everywhere for the grasshopper’s fate.
Finally, the Chatham County Board of Commissioners enacts an ordinance to prevent excessive storing of food, increases taxes on private property, and funds a committee to study how to help the grasshoppers in our community.
The ant moves out of Chatham County.