Op-Ed by David LaGuerre
The views expressed in this opinion column are my own and do not represent the views of the Utica Phoenix’s owner or management.
I love this country too much to believe that loving it means staying quiet.
I am a veteran. I served under Carter, Reagan, Clinton and Bush. And this is the worst I have ever seen.
That is my judgment, shaped by what service to this country means to me. My loyalty is to the country and its Constitution, not to a president or a political party.
I have heard it in election after election: this is the most important election of our lives. But this time feels different to me. This time, I believe democracy itself is at stake.
Patriotism is not loyalty to one man. It is not defending everything a president does because he belongs to your party. It is caring enough about the country to demand better, especially when the people in power would rather you stop asking questions.
On Tuesday, November 3, I am asking voters to vote blue. Send Democrats to Congress who will put a meaningful check on Donald Trump.
Not because Democrats are perfect. They aren’t. Not because any political party deserves our unquestioning trust. None does.
Because a president should have to answer to somebody besides the people who tell him what he wants to hear.
No politician deserves a blank check
Some of Trump’s own words have stayed with me. In January 2016, he boasted that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue without losing voters. It was a provocative joke about his supporters’ loyalty, not a report of an actual shooting. But the attitude behind that boast is exactly what worries me: the idea that loyalty can become so absolute that accountability no longer matters.
No public official should believe there is nothing he could do to lose our support.
The following month, after winning the Nevada Republican caucuses, Trump said, “I love the poorly educated.” Context matters. He was celebrating support among several groups, including highly educated voters. That sentence alone does not prove that he wanted people to remain uneducated.
But it does raise a question I want every voter to consider: Does a politician value you as a citizen who deserves opportunity, honest information and a better life, or mainly as a vote he can count on?
A college degree does not measure a person’s worth or common sense. Every voter deserves respect. And every voter deserves leaders who welcome questions instead of expecting devotion.
Take a minute. Write down two policies.
Before you read another headline or repeat another campaign slogan, I want you to try something.
Sit down for a minute. Get a pen or pencil and a piece of paper, or open the notes app on your phone or tablet. Write down two policies Trump has enacted that have made your life better.
Not two promises. Not two people he has insulted. Two policies, and the concrete difference each has made in your life.
Did one help you afford groceries, housing or medicine? Did it improve your job, your retirement security or your family’s future? Name the policy. Write down the benefit. If you can identify two, examine them honestly. If you cannot, ask yourself why you are being asked to keep giving him your trust.
This is not about winning an argument with me. It is about judging a president by results rather than loyalty. I would ask the same question of a Democrat.
Promises deserve more than excuses
I remember the promises of quick fixes. During the September 2024 presidential debate, Trump said he would settle the war in Ukraine before becoming president. At an August 2024 news conference, he promised to bring prices down immediately.
Those are promises voters are entitled to remember. Yet in an April 2025 interview, when TIME asked about his pledge to end the Ukraine war on day one, Trump said he had made that promise in jest.
I do not find that reassuring. War is not a punchline, and families struggling to pay their bills deserve more than a campaign’s promise that everything can be fixed immediately.
We should compare what was promised with what was delivered, not let an argument about who deserves the blame replace that comparison. My question is simple: if you asked for the job by promising to fix the problem, why should voters accept excuses in place of accountability?
I cannot know what Trump privately believed he could accomplish. But in my opinion, selling sweeping promises and then retreating from their plain meaning looks like a grift, not responsible leadership. That is my judgment of the conduct, not a claim that I can read his mind.
Congress works for us
This election will not choose a president. It will help determine whether the president faces a Congress willing to question him.
A congressional election is not a consolation prize between presidential campaigns. It is an opportunity to change who controls the money, who demands answers and who insists that executive power has limits.
I want representatives who will examine spending, challenge abuses and stand up when the White House crosses a line. A member of Congress is not sent to Washington to protect a president’s feelings. That member is sent there to represent the people.
For families here in Utica and across the country, government is not an argument on television. It is whether a paycheck covers the bills. Whether a parent can afford medicine. Whether a young person sees a future beyond debt. Whether someone who worked for decades can retire with dignity.
I want Democrats to defend affordable health care, Social Security and Medicare. I want them to support workers who organize for better pay and safer conditions. I want public money judged by what it does for the public, not by how pleased it makes a donor.
Voting blue is not the end of that demand. It is the beginning. If Democrats earn our votes, they also earn our scrutiny.
Strength is not standing alone
I also want an America that understands the value of its friends.
At a February 2024 rally, Trump described telling a NATO leader that he would not protect a country he considered delinquent and would encourage Russia to do “whatever the hell they want.” That was Trump’s account of a conversation. And his description blurred an important distinction: allies’ defense-spending targets are not overdue bills owed to the United States.
We can expect allies to contribute fairly without treating every partnership as a humiliation. We can negotiate firmly without making trust disposable. We can defend American interests without pretending that cooperation is weakness.
That contrast troubles me when I remember Trump’s praise for North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. At a September 2018 rally, after exchanging diplomatic letters with Kim, Trump said “we fell in love.” The remark came during efforts to negotiate over North Korea’s nuclear program. Diplomacy with an adversary can be necessary. But in my view, such warmth toward an authoritarian leader, set against rhetoric that strains relationships with our allies, sends the wrong message about America’s priorities.
A country does not become stronger simply because its leader sounds angrier.
The same is true of supporting our military. Respect for service members must mean more than applause at a rally. It should mean responsible decisions about when to put them in danger, support for their families and care for veterans after the cameras leave.
Our troops should never be political props. Their service is to the country, not to a president’s personal ambitions.
Public office is not a private opportunity
Americans should not have to wonder whether a government decision serves the country or someone’s business interests.
In March 2025, Reuters reported that the Trump family had taken control of the World Liberty Financial crypto venture through an entity in which the family held a majority stake. The report described arrangements giving the family a large share of token-sale revenue.
To me, that creates an obvious need for scrutiny when the president’s administration also influences policy affecting that industry. It is not proof that every decision is corrupt. It is a reason for Congress to demand transparency instead of looking away.
I would like to see stronger rules separating public service from private financial opportunities. One approach worth debating is requiring senior leaders to hold their investable assets in U.S. Treasury securities while in office, rather than individual company stocks or speculative ventures that could benefit from their decisions.
That is a policy proposal, not a claim about what the law currently requires. It would need careful rules and enforcement, and it would not eliminate every conflict. But the principle is straightforward: people entrusted with public power should not be using that position to pursue private advantage.
The same standard must apply to Democrats. Accountability that changes with party affiliation is not accountability.
The Constitution is not optional
I worry about what happens when loyalty to a leader becomes more important than loyalty to our system of government.
In a March 2025 interview, Trump said he was “not joking” about a third term, while also saying it was too early to think about it. I take that seriously. I do not believe constitutional limits should become a guessing game about whether the president means what he says.
I cannot tell readers that Trump will refuse to leave office. Nobody should present a prediction as an established fact. But concern about the peaceful transfer of power deserves a serious response, not a shrug.
The 22nd Amendment bars a person from being elected president more than twice. That constitutional limit is not a matter of personal preference. Our leaders should respect it, and Congress should make clear that constitutional boundaries will be defended.
We should not wait for a crisis to decide whether those boundaries matter.
Make your vote count
You do not have to agree with me on every issue. You do not have to like every Democrat. And you do not have to stop loving a friend or family member because they vote differently.
But ask yourself what this moment requires.
Do we need more people making excuses for the president, or more people willing to hold him accountable?
My answer is clear.
On November 3, vote blue. Vote for a Congress that will stand up for working families, respect our allies, honor military service and insist that public office serves the public.
Then keep paying attention. Keep asking questions. Hold the people you elect to their promises.
This country belongs to us. No president is entitled to our silence.
Featured image: AI-generated Americana illustration of a bald eagle and American flag; not a photograph.
