Every four years, we hear the same refrain: “This is the most important election of our lifetime.” I distinctly remember top Republicans saying the country was not going to survive a second term of President Obama. Though he left us trillions in new debt, we have survived his presidency to this point. I am thus very hesitant to make that same type of argument for 2020.

However, I believe 2020 is truly the election that will determine which fork in the road our country takes, and whether, in just a few years, the United States resembles the country we have today.

Today’s Democratic Party has the most radical political ideology of any major party in the history of the country. Normally, a radical ideology is not something that could force permanent changes throughout the nation. That is because the other party (Republicans) can thwart any radical legislation in the Senate with the 60-vote rule, which has historically moderated legislation.

But Senate procedures will have to change if Democrats are to pass their extreme agenda, and several Democrats are willing to make it happen. Elizabeth Warren has called for ending the 60-vote rule so her party can control legislation without needing support from Republicans. Bernie Sanders vowed to end the rule so he can pass his nationalized health care plan. In total, 13 of the declared Democratic candidates for president, including Beto O’Rourke and Pete Buttigieg, have expressed a desire to end it. When considering the desires of the Democratic base, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will be forced to enact the “nuclear option” -- changing the 60-vote rule to a simple majority. Democrats would then be free to pass any aspect of their radical agenda -- 70% tax rates on high-income earners, nationalized health care, the Green New Deal, eliminating the Electoral College, new open border immigration laws, and most importantly to their continued hold on power, new voter legislation.

Bernie Sanders just called for opening voting to felons still in prison, including the Boston Marathon bomber and other mass murderers. Kamala Harris and Nancy Pelosi are in favor of lowering the voting age to 16. But the real long-term power grab is not with felons or 16-year-olds, it lies with the millions of illegal immigrants and other non-citizens currently living in the U.S.

The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA) was bipartisan legislation signed by President Bill Clinton codifying that only U.S. citizens can vote in federal elections. It is surprising that such a fundamental concept was enacted into law just 23 years ago, but it is at risk of being altered by Democrats. With a simple amendment to the IIRIRA, Democrats could open federal elections to voting by non-citizens.

For example, they could decide that anyone in the country longer than three years is eligible to vote, regardless of immigration status, thus adding millions of new non-citizens to the rolls. And although not citizens, these new voters would be able to file suit under the Voting Rights Act to force courts to redraw congressional districts based on their new voting status. These new non-citizen voters would effectively cancel out the votes of millions of current citizens and flip the entire southwestern U.S., including Texas, to the Democrats. This simple amendment would likely give Democrats control of the presidency and Congress for generations. Republicans would be unable to stop it.

Schumer and many other Democrats were calling for immigration enforcement just 10 years ago. Today, however, they advocate an open border policy. O’Rourke denounced what he called the “militarization” of immigration enforcement. Julian Castro wrote in his immigration platform that the sole mission of ICE should be the arresting of alien criminals, not securing the border. During her 2016 campaign, Hillary Clinton spoke of her dream of open trade and open borders.

The left’s radical immigration agenda does not have the support of current voters. Democrats have decided that they must import new voters that have no understanding of our great history, system of government, the rule of law, and capitalism to impose their goals on America. The new endgame is to overwhelm the system with immigrants who they know will ultimately vote heavily for Democrats. But they are also tired of waiting and will not risk another conservative like Trump being elected in the future. They will use the nuclear option in 2021 if the election of 2020 goes their way, and our country will likely change forever.