Speeding on Talbot County roads. Drunk driving. Illegal turns. Trash thrown from car windows. Illegal parking. Loud objections to property restrictions. Quiet contempt for neighbors deemed unworthy. This isn’t a list of unrelated bad habits. It’s a pattern — a belief that rights mean doing whatever benefits you, right now, no matter who pays the price.
What’s missing from all of it is any thought of the Preamble’s opening words: “We the People.” These behaviors exist precisely because people have stopped asking what it means to form a more perfect union. The instinct instead is to grab, to hoard, to separate — and to decide, often with the blessing of those in power, that certain people don’t belong here or cost too much to keep around.
We were supposed to be building something larger: a stronger, more unified, genuinely diverse nation. That means staying committed to unfinished work — establishing justice, ensuring domestic tranquility, providing for the common defense, promoting the general welfare, securing liberty’s blessings. Unity in diversity isn’t decoration. It’s the assignment. We know it when we see it, and we see it most clearly in who steps forward to serve.
Too many currently in office fail that test. They bend to whoever holds power, protect those who already have plenty, and work to blunt the courts and legislatures meant to check them. You don’t need to hear their excuses — their votes say it plainly: weakening voting rights, stripping support from people in need, cutting off access to health care. All while talking loudly about greatness, strength, and domination, at home and abroad.
There is a better choice on the ballot. Candidates shaped by real experience, real education, and genuine commitment to this country — ready to build rather than dismantle:
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Talbot County Council: Susan Delean-Botkin, Mike Bibb, Marvin Foster, Pete Lesher, Brian Naranjo
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Maryland Senate, District 37: Katie Clendaniel
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Maryland House, District 37B: Michele Johnson
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Talbot County Board of Education: Xavier Rahim (District 1), Amy Dodson (District 3), Emily Jackson (District 4), Kate Taylor Logan (District 7)
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Orphans’ Court Judge: Phil Foster
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Register of Wills: Patti Campen
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US House, District 1: Dan Schwartz
These are not people chasing power for its own sake. They are neighbors willing to do the harder, slower work of self-government — the work of actually forming a union, instead of just claiming to believe in one.
E Pluribus Unum. Out of many, one. Law-abiding citizens who choose to build together instead of tearing apart — that’s the country worth showing up for. On election day, that choice is ours to make.
Stephen Bender
Tilghman
4 Responses
With the unexpected and sad passing of Judge Phil Foster, is there a mechanism available to replace him on the ballot?
No, there is not.
Phil Foster believed deeply that politics shouldn’t find its way on to the Orhpan’s Court. He was passionate about the work. The best we can do as a community is vote for Phil, and work to ensure someone who shares his values is placed in the vacancy.
Phil Jackson, Chair
TalbotDems (Talbot County Democratic Central Committee)
I think it is too late to replace him on the ballot. But if he wins, and I hope he does, Gov. Moore can replace him on the court with a qualified replacement.
Well said. Americans have an opportunity to take stock in November.
We have a $40 Trillion national debt, high inflation, gas and groceries through the roof, a war begun with a surprise attack on a sovereign nation without provocation, without Congressional approval. Our government wasting billions of taxpayer dollars every day on this undeclared and pointless War, and billions more on the cruelty of ICE. And there’s no end in sight.
And our representative in Congress, Andy Harris, is mute. But it’s not mere silence and failure to speak up.
Andy Harris voted to take away healthcare and food assistance to needy families in our district, but delayed those cuts so they’ll go into effect only AFTER the midterm elections. This only proves he knows the harm he’s causing just wouldn’t fly with voters, so he’s trying to protect himself from that harm.
He’s only concerned about himself, not folks in the 1st District. And he’s trying to hide that. Whether we’re fooled, again, is up to us to decide on November 3 when we enter the voting booth.
Make a plan. Make it happen. Bring family, friends and neighbors. Make your voices heard. Vote.