Americans have long set aside days to remember our men and women in uniform, some of whom gave the ultimate sacrifice to protect our God-given freedoms.

Sunday, Sept. 11 is the 15th anniversary of the Islamist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and the hijacked jet brought down by patriotic Americans in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, which was likely intended as a gigantic bomb bound for the U.S. Capitol building.

In New York alone, 2,753 people died, including 23 New York City police officers, 37 Port Authority officers, and 346 firefighters.  Some of these men ascended stairs in the crumbling World Trade Center towers even as evacuees fled past them.

At the Pentagon, 184 people lost their lives when one of the hijacked jets crashed into the Outer Ring.

On Flight 93 from Newark Airport, several passengers on their cell phones learned that a jet had crashed into one of the Twin Towers at 8:46 a.m.  Knowing they would never land safely on Earth again, several passengers formulated a plan to overpower the hijackers.

Todd Beamer’s last words to his wife are seared into the consciousness of every American who recalls that horrific day: “Are you guys ready?  Let’s roll.”  It was the only instance of American resistance to the attacks that day.  Minutes later, the jet flipped upside-down and crashed into a field, killing all 40 passengers and crew.

As Election Day 2016 approaches, we face the most consequential choice in our lifetimes.  It was in February 1998 during Bill Clinton’s presidency that Osama bin Laden declared a fatwa against the United States, urging radical Muslims to kill Americans wherever they found them.  That fatwa remains in place, and we have seen its bloody effect in several recent attacks here in America.

Over the past seven years, a feckless foreign policy led by Barack Obama has destabilized the Middle East, subjected Christians and others to genocide, and allowed Iran to continue its march toward nuclear terror, aided by payments in cash from our own government.

History tells us that tyrants and bullies respond only to force, which is why the years of weakness have emboldened our enemies.

If someone tells you it’s not important to vote on November 8, or that it’s fine to throw away your vote on a third-party candidate, please remind him or her that our very freedoms are at stake.  We cannot survive more years of the same failed policies, either domestically or around the world.

Voting is the least we can do to honor the memories of those who came before us and fought and died for this beloved country that we are in danger of losing.

Please remember to pray for the families of those in our armed forces and law enforcement, the victims of the ongoing terrorist war against civilization, and for America.

And vote on November 8.  Vote as if the very future of our children and grandchildren depends on it.

Because it does.

Robert Knight is a senior fellow for the American Civil Rights Union.