I don’t think we always realize the magnitude of the importance of our vote for our future and the future of our children. For the future of the country.

And this is perhaps because in the past we did not see the results we expected from the candidates we supported. And probably because we have voted so many times in our lives, we take elections for granted.

God help us never have to recover our appreciation of the value of elections only after being deprived of them.

If you consider me overly pessimistic I refer you to the televised address by President Biden on the danger facing Democracy in America.

Forget for a moment that Biden is a Democrat and see him only as the president of the USA. How tragic that the President of the USA – yes, the President of the USA – feels it necessary to make a speech to the people to warn them that this election may decide the fate of Democracy in the country with the longest-standing democratic government in power in the world.

We live in troubled times. The index of anxiety, unhappiness, and even despair is rising dangerously on a large scale.

Just to think that Putin often frequently refers to the possibility of using nuclear weapons and that Russian generals – according to the New York Times – considered the possibility of using atomic weapons in Ukraine, is enough to put a frightening stamp on our era.

And, moreover, inflation on an international scale, leads to dissatisfaction among large percentages of the population.

I gather this information from conversations with people in Greece, but also from an MRB Poll yesterday which shows that 52% of Greece’s citizens consider inflation to be the number one problem and only 7.6%(!) the crisis in Greek-Turkish relations!!! (To the question about who the people trust more, the answer was Mitsotakis, 46% to 21% for Tsipras!).

But the people should take into account that with their vote they can speed up or slow down the exit from a crisis. That often even competent governments are powerless, in the short term, to deal with a given crisis, i.e. the high price of gasoline, but with the appropriate actions they can reduce the time period required to get out of a crisis. Conversely, an incompetent government will greatly slow down the recovery.

The November 8 election may go down in history for another reason: If Turkish-American Dr. Mehmet Oz is elected to the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania.

It would be the first time in U.S. history that a Turkish-American has reached such a key position.

And the problem isn’t just that he’s Turkish-American, but that he is a devoted, conscientious Turkish-American. He has served in the Turkish army – when he could have avoided it. Oh yes – he speaks good Turkish, knows Turkish foreign policy issues firsthand, is a devout Muslim, etc.

Last, but not least, while we will vote against Oz, we vote for all Greek American candidates, regardless of political orientation.

And above all we vote.