To the editor:

In the 48 years that I have been a voter, the stakes in an election have never been greater.

For the past eight years, and for longer in terms of foreign policy, the U.S. government and our corporate culture have been moving further and further toward enriching themselves rather than serving the common good, undermining our public institutions, and causing havoc around the world.

What happens on Nov. 7 and two years hence will determine whether American civilization recovers its place as a beacon for peoples striving to throw off the twin curses of poverty and oppression, or collapses into the dustbin of history alongside other obsolete empires.

Recent news from the American hustings and the battlefields where our warriors are dying pointlessly suggests a profound shift in public opinion may be turning our course back to decency and rationality.

My optimism has been burned many times. Perhaps this is the year when enlightened and well-meaning Americans will have some cause for rejoicing.

Gerald Mikkelson,

Lawrence