The new year is upon us. Soon it will be time for our country to make a decision that could change our lives drastically. In another 50 years, we could celebrate our tricentennial as a democracy founded on the principle that we, the people, govern ourselves.

Is this what we still want? Do we wish to let the people determine the way forward (as messy and frustrating as that may be)? Or do we want to be governed by one man, one group who decides how we live?

The United States of America was founded by resilient, courageous people who worked against all odds to escape the tyranny of a king, a ruling class, a dominant religion, a hierarchy of society where a minority held power, wealth, and authority. If you were a member of that ruling class, lucky you. If not, you had no voice, little choice or way better your position in life.

We have a choice in 2024. Do you want a say in our leadership? Do you think everyone should be equal under the law? Do you want to help make those laws? Or do you want to give power to one small group to decide what is right and wrong, who is punished or not, what you read, what you earn, how you worship, how you are educated, what your role in society is?

I listened briefly to a call-in show on our local radio station the other morning. I live in a politically purple county of the reliably blue Connecticut. A caller said we have to do something about the immigrants. Agitated, he nearly shouted, “What’s wrong with nationalism?!”

The radio show host said, “Nothing, unless it shifts into something like Hitler or Mussolini.”

“That’s never going to happen,” the caller retorted.

I wanted to ask him, what will prevent that from happening?

Nationalism, oligarchy, democracy, theocracy, autocracy, dictatorship. It’s hard to understand what this means in daily life. I look to history, current events, to other countries to make sense of it: Russia, Ukraine, Iran, Venezuela, the chaos in parts of Africa.… What I do know is this: the principles that make America great in the eyes of the world — the right for each of us to be equal under the law, the right for us to make those laws, the right to choose how we are governed and by whom — this will disappear if our democracy ceases.

We have been here before — in colonial days, the Civil War, post-Great Depression, the Civil Rights Movement. A more perfect union does not just happen. It is bloody, hard work. It’s time to decide, to look carefully into your hearts, your values, your dreams. It’s still up to us. Our future is in our own hands. We get to choose.

With thanks to Heather Cox Richardson for inspiration and enlightenment, Cris Cadiz is a freelance writer from Pomfret.