Editor, Times-Union: It is crisp today, the crystal blue sky devoid of clouds. The sun, now hanging lower in the southern sky, casts long shadows over the earth that will soon be cloaked in brilliant white snow. Red, orange, and golden leaves on tall trees seem to flash their colors as a tempting young maiden. Indian Summer is such a lovely time of year, much too beautiful to be soiled by an obscene national presidential election campaign that seems to leave one wishing for a cleansing shower. It is a campaign by two people each with the highest voter dissatisfaction since such statistics were first recorded in America. Voters, angered by an out-of-control federal bureaucracy that ignores those for whom it serves, long for a ballot with a space to mark “none of the above”. Friends and neighbors, divorced by a nasty campaign, throw hateful glances where before they shared a glass of wine. It casts an air of blackness over what is one of the most beautiful seasons. The overhanging invisible air is thick with negativism from all sides. There is no escaping a resulting depression of the mind and human spirit. One wonders if partisans will throw themselves out of windows when election results crash high hopes for a favored candidate. An American presidential election is said to be one of the most peaceful transitions of government in our fragile world. We fear this one will not measure up to that lofty expectation. Dan Lee Warsaw, via email
