What is the most consequential issue facing the American electorate on Nov. 5? Is it inflation, immigration, abortion, or climate change? No, the most important question to be answered on Election Day is whether the United States will seek a negotiated settlement to its proxy war with Russia or pursue its current policy of serial escalation in Ukraine. That is the only choice that involves an immediate and potentially existential threat to the nation.
Ukraine is not a democracy. In 2014, its elected president was overthrown in a coup. It is notoriously corrupt and increasingly authoritarian, having recently canceled both presidential and parliamentary elections. With severe restrictions on freedom of the press and religion it is no bastion of human rights. Ukraine is in fact an impoverished, half destroyed nation that relies on foreign aid to pay the salaries of its civil servants. It hard to see how admitting Ukraine to NATO and thus committing America's sons and daughters to die for every inch of Crimea would make America safer or be worth risking a nuclear confrontation.
