Vital experiment

Re “America is broken” (Your Views, Feb. 18): The letter writer in his well-written letter defines as “broken” those problems that have always been perennial challenges. The politicization of government agencies, corruption, crime, illegal drugs, kids being kids, the border, taunting adversaries and, of course, transgender athletics.

It’s an imperfect world, which is why, in struggling toward “a more perfect Union,” we have a Constitution with decentralized authority, separation of powers, checks and balances, and amendments. It’s absolutely indispensable to our future.

As for ignoring God, the nation’s faith is a work in progress. In church recently, our pastor gave an excellent sermon on spending more time with God. But the letter writer’s assertion that “the current administration has deliberately ruined everything” begs the question: Can we really blame Democrats for a 40-year decline in churchgoing, and for all the perennial challenges to life together that we’ve had with us since 1776?

Here’s his rhetorical question: “Do you really think any Democrat is willing, able or equipped to turn things around?” His solution, “former President Donald Trump is willing, able and equipped to do what needs to be done.”

Our multicultural republic is not amenable to one-person rule. If the 2024 election comes down to the two current front-runners, we’ll choose between “I-alone-can-fix-it” Trump and “there’snothing-we-cannot-do-if-we-do-it-together” Biden. The perennial challenges aren’t going away. With all due respect to the letter writer, we should vote for the candidate who best understands and respects the values and constraints of our constitutional foundations.