Much has been written about the imminent American election. Many believe Trump is a shoe-in.

Many believe the Democrats have gamed the system and will never lose another presidential election again.

Many more just wish the whole thing was over, so the incessant commercials would cease and the yard signs would be put away.

As I write this, we are roughly 72 hours away from a Rubicon, past which we may never be able to return. The formerly United States could well be permanently divided, at least intellectually, culturally, and spiritually. And, since the United States stands unique and was uniquely founded, this would be a Rubicon that has never before been crossed.

A superpower has never before become just a very large third world nation, but that outcome is what we will be staring in the face over the next several days. Does the Land of the Free choose to remain that way, or do free people — in a remarkable irony -- vote themselves into slavery? A slavery of mind and soul, of thought and heart, a particularly pernicious kind of bondage ... and one even harder from which to break free.

If the election is stolen from the people this time, every future election will be meaningless, a sad and pathetic exercise in futility for many, a reaffirmation of servitude for others. George Orwell’s “1984” will have come true, writ tragically and large, precisely 40 years late. The Gadsden flag would be replaced by a red and black banner, “Don’t Tread On Me” by “Take Care Of Me.”

Citizens of the United States were granted freedom at the nation’s birth. But maybe that freedom was just “assigned” in error. Or maybe Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and Kamala Harris truly did fundamentally transform us. Maybe we are now “trans-freedom,” and our pronouns are “comrade” and “vassal.”

As John Adams stated, “Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.” That is the existential threat facing us.

Mark Steyn astutely notes that, if Donald Trump has not been declared the winner by 11 p.m. EST on Nov. 5, he never will be, for obvious -- if nefarious -- reasons.

Democrats don’t want to “save our democracy,” they want to end it. The life of the republic is at stake. That is not hyperbole.

How long can you hold your breath?

Image: Picryl, from Wikimedia Commons / public domain