Letters: Trump is a clear and present danger

It was a dreary night in mid-October 1944, and I was in my tent at an airstrip in France. I was serving as a crew chief for a P-51 in the 353rd Fighter Squadron of the U.S. Army Air Corps, and I was marking my absentee ballot, my first time voting for president. I cast my ballot for Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

I have voted in every presidential election since 1944, yet no presidential election has been fraught with such danger as election 2016. It appears that Donald Trump may present a clear and present danger.

He pledges to make the United States great again. (Note: It still is.) Adolph Hitler said the same to the people of Germany. Mr. Trump pledges to keep out people (Mexicans, for example) we would not want inside our borders. Mr. Hitler said the same to the people of the Third Reich.

This is not the Third Reich.

As we move through the election cycle and the political parties prepare to name their presidential nominees, may we bear in mind that the Preamble to the Constitution begins, “We the People of the United States.” The course this nation follows for the next four years is in the hands of the people. It is in our hands.

This story was originally published March 31, 2016 at 1:20 PM.