To the Editor:

While serving as editor of The Newtown Bee, my November 3, 2016 editorial cautioned the public about the upcoming presidential election. That editorial read, in part:

“There should remain no indecision in the minds of voters when they step into the voting booths on Tuesday, November 8, to elect the next President of the United States.

“Denigrating people for race, religion, and sex is contrary to leadership at any level. Evasiveness, dishonesty, and inconsistency are troublesome characteristics for a leader. A mean-spirited, immature, and narcissistic personality, and ignorance of government processes is hardly the kind of person able to head one of the world’s greatest powers.

“The president of our country must have dignity, discipline, and diplomacy; be knowledgeable; intelligent; experienced; supportive; mature; responsible; considerate; transparent; thoughtful; and articulate. The President of the United States must be globally aware and sensitive to other nations.

“The country deserves a president with the skills to move America into the future, safely and wisely. Weighing the balance of desirable and undesirable characteristics should make choosing a candidate who can do so a simple task on Election Day.”

I stand behind those words today. They are words sadly as apt in 2024 as they were in 2016.

The editorial was not appreciated by all, certainly. That’s the thing about opinions. Not everyone agrees, and that’s okay by me. If my words ever carry any weight with even a few, if even a small number think about the options for President of the United States and consider who embodies the characteristics that make Americans proud to be Americans, I’m satisfied.

That in 2024 we are again presented with two choices so far removed from one another is astounding to me. That people choose to rally around one candidate who not only is “mean-spirited, immature,” and vengeful; who chooses to highlight the worst of our country with no reliable plans to better it; who counts autocratic world leaders as his associates (you are judged by the companionship you keep…); and who wants to roll back this country to… what “better” time, exactly — over a candidate willing to preside over all Americans; who has worked to boost the economy; who looks to a positive future for this country; who is not under indictment for numerous crimes, is mindboggling.

The presumptive presidential nominees for the Republican and Democratic parties are well known. I have not named names, as was the case in my 2016 editorial.

If the shoe fits, wear it.

It is not too soon to scrutinize the choices. I’m for an America that looks to a better future, built by smart, innovative people and headed by smart, mature leaders.

Nancy K. Crevier

Newtown