The first time I voted was during the presidential election of 1960, a far less controversial and threatening environment than exists today.
There’s a wonderful story about Benjamin Franklin, during the Constitutional Convention of 1787. As he walked out of Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Mrs. Elizabeth Willing Powel, a prominent society figure and the wife of Philadelphia mayor Samuel Powel, shouted a question to Mr. Franklin, “What do we have, a republic or a monarchy?” An enormous fear of the time. Franklin’s famous response was, “a republic, if you can keep it.”
There are echoes today of that question asked in 1787. As always, the answer is up to you. Vote for what you want, but vote. It’s your republic, if you can keep it.