This election, only one thing matters.

The only question that matters in this election is this:

Which candidate will absolutely guarantee we preserve a constitutional republic with democratic liberties after taking the oath of office on January 20, 2015? Kamala Harris or Donald Trump?

The peaceful transfer of power is essential to democracy. Donald Trump tried to block the peaceful transfer of power by attempting to stop the certification of the 2020 election results. In addition, we will never be able to calculate the damage done by his autocratic mismanagement of COVID, lengthening the pandemic and causing needless deaths, and exacerbating the mismatch between supply and demand that was the principal cause of inflation.

Because of the unrelenting firehoses of MAGA misinformation, motivated ignorance (the “I don’t-want- to-hear it syndrome”), societal amnesia, and apathy, we’ve almost forgotten the chaos and dangers of Trump’s autocratic actions in his first term.

We barely recall our shock at the three hours then-President Trump sat passively in the White House watching his out-of-control “Back-the-Blue” supporters violently attack the Capitol police and destructively break into the People’s House on January 6, or our disbelief at how long it took before he was reluctantly cajoled into a half-hearted effort to stop the attack. He did nothing. This time, we need to elect a President who does something when called to do his duty.

We’ve almost forgotten President Trump telling us in January, 2021 that the pandemic was not serious and would soon end on its own when he had evidence to the contrary; that we should take the life-saving vaccine his Operation Warpspeed developed… or not, as we wished; that the States were responsible for dealing with the pandemic, not him; and that his performance during the pandemic was “phenomenal.” To put it kindly, his self-assessment did not align with the actual health and economic outcomes with which we still struggle.

Kamala Harris has promised the continuation of our current form of government. Donald Trump has not. Every other difference between them is trivial. All the other issues confronting us today can and will be debated after the election, if we remain a country faithful to our founding. But they will be decided by a single leader if we renounce our heritage of a government “of the people, by the people and for the people.”

When we vote in November we will be voting for a rebirth of our freedom or for its premature death. We have struggled too long and too hard to let our precious freedom slip from us.

Our rag-tag, outnumbered, poorly trained, ill-equipped, totally outmatched Continental Army won our liberty in the Revolutionary War by defeating the British army, one of the most formidable military powers of its time.

In our Declaration of Independence, we set forth the principles of liberty, and government by consent that define our treasured democracy.

Our Constitution and Bill of Rights safeguard our basic liberties: freedom of speech, assembly, press, and religion, and due process of law.

Our movements to abolish slavery, to grant women the right to vote, and to extend civil rights ensured equality and human rights to all.

Throughout our history on battlefields like Gettysburg, Normandy, Pearl Harbor, Io Jima, and Midway, our soldiers gave life and limb to keep America free from domination by the dictatorships of the world.

Do we really want to throw this priceless legacy away because of one know-it-all who claims he can fix anything magically fast, easily and on the cheap?

What will future generations say of us? Will they say we stood up to the threats of authoritarians the way our forebears did? Or, “Whew, thank God we dodged that bullet because in 2024 the American people voted wisely! Because of them, January 20, 2025 should be celebrated every year just as we celebrate Independence Day.”

Or will they say, “It was a nice run. Too bad they blew it.”

No matter how the election turns out, the star-spangled banner will yet wave. But will it proudly proclaim “liberty!” over the land of the free and the home of the brave? Or will it represent repression in the world’s newest autocracy?

That is the only question that truly matters.

Tim Mannello is a retired hospital system executive and business consultant.