As the sun sets on the epic midterm election of 2018, and the sun rises on the nation-defining presidential campaign of 2020, there is a closing message for Democrats who aspire to lead our people and unite the nation.

Democrats are the party of democracy and decency, running against Republicans dominated by a president who praises foreign dictators while his GOP allies escalate attacks against the voting rights of millions of Americans.

ADVERTISEMENT

Democrats are the party of great aspirations for every citizen, running against Republicans in Congress who blindly support a Republican president who makes every day an opportunity to pit Americans against Americans, weaponizing a politics of insults and defamations against the large numbers of Americans he ridicules and demeans on any given day.

Democrats for democracy stand for a health-care system in which ALL Americans have the right to receive the care that will make them healthy, running against Republicans who even attack the rights and jeopardize the health of millions of Americans suffering from pre-existing conditions.

Democrats for decency stand with the great faiths of the world that teach that the poor and destitute are human beings loved by God and that torture, the jailing of political prisoners, and the murder of political opponents are crimes that must never be tolerated by humanity — running against Republicans who pay homage to a president who believes otherwise.

Democrats are the patriot party who want America to be the moral and political leader of the free world, running against a Republican president who regularly praises America’s enemies, insults America’s allies and claims the Russian attack against American democracy is a hoax based on fake news from a free press he calls the enemy of the people.

Democrats are the party of family who believe that our nation is a great American family that should be brought together by our leaders, not divided by a president who would tear the American family apart. Democrats are the party of decency that fights to keep families together, and condemns a cruel immigration policy that rips boys and girls from their mothers and fathers.

Democrats are the party of justice that would never countenance a Supreme Court nominee who makes an angry, partisan, bitterly divisive and insult-laden speech at his confirmation hearing.

Democrats believe that every woman has a right to be safe from sexual abuse, running against a president who has publicly attacked dozens of women who make charges of abuse. Democrats fight for the right to equal pay for equal work and equal justice under law, running against Republicans who fight like hell for the biggest tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.

The great truth about Democrats in 2018 is that the differences between Democrats are infinitesimal compared to the divisive vision of America, and the extreme program for America, offered by Trump Republicans. Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonFox News poll: Biden ahead of Trump in Nevada, Pennsylvania and Ohio Trump, Biden court Black business owners in final election sprint The power of incumbency: How Trump is using the Oval Office to win reelection MORE and Bernie Sanders Bernie SandersThe Hill's Campaign Report: Trump faces backlash after not committing to peaceful transition of power Bernie Sanders: 'This is an election between Donald Trump and democracy' The Hill's 12:30 Report: Trump stokes fears over November election outcome MORE are Siamese twins compared to Republicans in the White House and Congress.

The great truth about American politics is that in 2018 the most important midterm election in history offers voters the stark choice between the check and balance the founding fathers envisioned versus a one-party state dominated by the kind of bitterly divisive president George Washington warned against in his farewell address. The 2020 presidential election will offer voters a transcendent choice between a Democratic vision to lead and unite America, versus a Trump-like future that appeals to the darker impulses of the spirit and wages war against the American idea of a diverse people brought together by common values and dreams.

The attitudes and tactics that Trump has brought to the presidency are extraordinary, unprecedented and dangerous to cardinal tenets of Americanism. The subservience of Republicans in Congress to these attitudes and tactics — which many of them privately deplore but publicly support — is equally extraordinary, unprecedented and dangerous to democracy.

The closing message of Democrats in 2018 is that in three weeks voters will have the power to revitalize democracy and restore decency in American public life.

Budowsky was an aide to former Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (D-Texas) and former Rep. Bill Alexander (D-Ark.), who was chief deputy majority whip of the House of Representatives. He holds an LLM in international financial law from the London School of Economics.