The US Presidential Election will reveal our essential nature as a nation and as a people - William Cooper

A nation is, above all, the hearts and minds of its people. And this election is a litmus test for Americans' hearts and minds.

The American experiment in government is based on a few essential ideas: free and fair elections, the rule of law, rational government, free speech, respect for the truth and for each other. While we may define the contours of these ideas differently, Americans have long accepted them as our foundational national principles. And it's been this way since the founding - through all the ups and downs, fits and starts, successes and failures.

This election puts these essential ideas on the line. Whether you agree or disagree with Kamala Harris on specific policies, one thing is clear: she believes in them. Whether you agree or disagree with Donald Trump on specific policies, another thing is clear: he doesn't. Everything else is noise. It's also true, at the same time, that Kamala Harris is not a generational political talent (to put it mildly). She's hardly a substantive policy wonk. Nor is she a great leader of women and men. It’s fair to criticise her, to disagree with her platform, and to wish the Democrats had a stronger candidate. But ultimately she's on board with the American experiment as we've known it; she wants our essential ideas to endure and succeed.

She doesn't reject our most important traditions. She respects them.

Trump, for his part, is not a fascist dictator (sorry but grouping him in with Hitler and Stalin is extreme). Nor was his presidency the across-the-board failure his critics describe. Dare I say it: he got some things right, including on the economy, criminal-justice reform, Covid vaccine development and confronting China's economic machinations.

But Trump neither understands nor cares about America's essential ideas. He doesn't respect our most important traditions. He rejects them.

He undermines our election system. He breaks the law. He stifles free speech. He governs neither rationally nor effectively nor respectfully. Donald Trump doesn't believe in the American experiment; he believes in something else entirely - an unprincipled, nebulous form of power which has only one coherence: an overriding impulse to place his personal interests above all else.

The question before us this election is who should be our president, who should lead us on the world stage. It’s the most important job in the country and this may be the most important time in our history. Our challenges at home and abroad have never been more complicated or far-reaching.

Selecting a president, moreover, is the only question American voters from every state decide together at the same time. And the contrast between Harris and Trump is so stark with what matters most that what's really on the ballot isn't the candidates. It’s every American. It's we the people. It's us.

The election won't just reveal who the next president will be. It will reveal our essential nature as a nation and as a people. Donald Trump doesn't care about America's essential ideas. The key open question that’s about to be answered is: Do we?

William Cooper is the author of How America Works … And Why It Doesn’t