It has been said that political parties exist to bring like-minded people together, unite them behind a common set of values and goals, and to promote candidates for political office. In the end, the hope is that political parties and the candidates they support have a true intrinsic higher calling to serve others and solve the challenges we face. Sadly, instead today’s political parties have been used to fuel division in our country at every level.  This reality is driving many Coloradans to become unaffiliated and our youth to become disinterested and disappointed in the political process.

The problems that face our communities, Colorado and our nation loom large.  Energy independence, rising crime and drug issues, immigration, defense, environment, homelessness, the cost of housing, a European land ward, a space race, aging infrastructure, and water are just a few of the challenges that deserve real leadership and focus from our candidates and political party platforms.

This is about good governance and choosing the candidates that offer real solutions and who have demonstrated an ability to solve challenges in a collaborative manner. It is not the role of political parties to try and divide our great state or nation by focusing on our differences and choices, and yet that is exactly what is shaping up as the reality for the 2024 election season once again. No candidate or party should be allowed to abridge anyone’s freedom and liberty, nor their pursuit of happiness or attack their unalienable rights – those have been paid for and guaranteed.

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I would offer this to you in your personal selection for candidates for public office, regardless of what party you belong to. If faced with a candidate that highlights division by what makes us different, or who attacks a lifestyle or choice rather than focusing on the issues that need to be solved – choose another candidate. Serious candidates chose instead to highlight the real issues and pressing concerns facing us today and provide a road map and a vision to address them. Serious candidates do not expend energy offering stale criticisms of how the other party or candidate failed or came up short – the voter can decide that.

Beware of the candidate that attempts to elevate himself or a party by denigrating others. I have fought for this country on five combat tours while on active duty.  I and others fought for the freedoms we enjoy and the independence that will be celebrated next week. Having fought for this freedom who am I to abridge another person’s right to enjoy the liberty and freedom so hard-earned? Yet today, so many candidates espousing freedom and liberty want to define it through their personal lens while denying that basic freedom to another.

Recently, I was disheartened to learn that a certain party chair felt the need to censure four outstanding elected officials, to include local leaders, of the same party, because of their personal choice to support an out of state elected official. Is this where we are in American politics in 2023? We hold sacred the documents of our country’s birth and all they promise. We send young men and women off to combat to underwrite those freedoms. We choose our elected leaders and ask them to serve and provide good governance and now it has suddenly become OK to censure speech or the written word? It is not OK, and we need an immediate course reversal on this extreme behavior.

For those of you contemplating public office or just trying to figure out which candidate is worthy of your vote, regardless of your party affiliation, look for those who focus on good governance who have real ideas that align with your own beliefs. Our two major political parties are not enemies, and we are all Americans. The parties represent different ways to approach similar challenges. We can still right this ship for 2024 and select the right leaders who will help shape our reality for the next decade. The choice is ours.

Dan Williams is the District 1 Teller County commissioner, a retired Army colonel and multiple-combat veteran including in Afghanistan and Iraq. He is the Post 1980 American Legion commander and a Post 6051 VFW life member. He lives with his wife, Suzan, a retired Army nurse and colonel, on their ranch near Cripple Creek.