With the biggest election of our lifetime a little more than a month away, it's time for me to put the gloves on, so to speak. I am going to fight for a better America.

I am drawing a line in the sand between the dos and the don'ts. Either you are for a better America, as I am, or you aren't. Either you are patriotic or you're not.

Re-electing our president is unpatriotic period. This is not an election where one can say, "It's just politics. The two parties are the same. Who cares? What's the difference?" That's just plain wrong. Of course, we live in a country where we have the freedom to vote any way we want. But to go to the polls and vote as an uninformed person jeopardizes those freedoms we once had, especially as it applies to our present government like no other time in our history.

The two parties, this time around, are as different as night and day.

We have a choice between what is right and what is wrong.

Let me draw an analogy, at this point, if I may. I teach tennis to kids and in a big way. Not too long ago, a prominent member of the community implied my teaching was primarily an ego thing. I was taken back momentarily by that comment. No, I said, "It's for the kids primarily." Of course, I get some benefits from teaching. I get out in the fresh air. I love teaching. But it's all about the kids, not me. No, I don't ask for money. Yes, I try to make a difference. Watching them progress and hit the ball the way they do when you watch tennis on TV is a huge pay back, but clearly what I do is more for them, than for me. I'm sure parents would concur.

My politics is the same. I try to make a difference. Believe it or not (my dissenters, ha-ha, never would in their wildest dreams) it's not about me, it's about a better America.

I was involved in a divorce with the mother of my four incredible children 25 years ago and, about the same time, divorced the Democratic Party. Neither one was working out for me, particularly the latter. I am not married to the Republican Party, but it does embody conservative principles needed for a better America. That should be as evident as the nose on one's face.

There are too many voters in the Democratic Party that are anti-American. They even exist in some of the most important positions of our government. I have already made the case, many times over in this paper, that would lead any halfway intelligent person to agree our president has policies, agendas, even an ideology that are destroying this great country of ours.

Ya dang right it's possible to be for the kids first and foremost as it is possible for me to be for a better America, first and foremost. Come to think of it, the two go together.

I could name a hundred things that our president is doing to hurt this country and in turn will dramatically hurt the next generation. The $16 trillion national debt and abortion on demand are just the tip of the iceberg.

Les Knoll

Victoria and Gilbert, Ariz.