To the editor:

The Republic for which we stand … The stakes in our November presidential election are as high as they were during our Civil War. In fact, that conflagration probably never burned out. Our nation is still broken into mutually hostile camps. The battle lines separating us are geographical (blue vs. red states), socioeconomic (workers vs. corporate elites) and ideological (progressives vs. reactionaries).

Intersecting those lines we have white extremist hate groups threatening African-Americans (including President Obama), immigrants (especially war refugees and people of color) and Muslims. So long as the rivalry between ignorance and enlightenment, between unbridled capital and civic responsibility, between bigotry and tolerance is not resolved in favor of the latter, the state of the nation will become more perilous.

We have ruptures in our social fabric — crumbling infrastructure, a widening gap in wealth and income, racism, religious intolerance, child poverty, homelessness, inadequate health care coverage, unfairness in access to higher education and a creaky criminal justice system.

What is most important, the United States, still looked upon in most places abroad as a leader, will not be able to fulfill its international responsibilities. We need to mobilize the international community to step up by a hundredfold its efforts to slow global warming. For countless reasons, we, the majority of American citizens, must stand up for the Republic by voting the only proper way in the November presidential election. Not the least reason: We wish our grandchildren to be able to live in a democratic country and a habitable world.