When Americans enter their polling booths across 50 states on November 8, they will have a clear choice: Vote for a nation that is indeed already great, or vote for one that is filled with hate. They can vote for a president and an administration that is accustomed to the way Washington works, can change laws and programmes, and can put Americans back to work in a nation that cares for and cherishes everyone equally. Or they can choose to live in a land walled off from the world, erratic and combative, cherishing the few over the many, the white and angry over those of diverse faiths and origins.

Last Thursday night, Hillary Rodham Clinton stepped onto the stage of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia to accept her party’s nomination for president, the first woman to do so in the United States, smashing a glass ceiling so long in the making. She offered a vision of a federal government that works, that cares, that believes that its people and its laws and institutions are indeed great and are the culmination of 239 years of building an America with people from every walk of life. It’s a vision of an America that is bright, compared to the dark and frightful nation portrayed by her Republican counterpart, Donald Trump. It is a schism between good and evil, hope and despair, melancholy and menace.

Yes, Hillary is a woman with flaws and human failings and frailties. But who among us is not without such traits, histories or characteristics? If perfection were a requirement to hold the highest office in the land, there would be few, if any, good enough to run.

There is a difference between running a real estate and casino corporation for profit and running a nation and its government for the betterment of all. The bottom line in business is cash and corporate growth; the bottom line in government is concern and good conscience.

The goodwill of Americans and every people and nation who come into contact with its policies are not chips to be played with in a casino venture or a roll of the dice. When Hillary told her delegates to “deal me in”, she referred to an inclusive America, where all have a stake. If this campaign was a western movie and such words were uttered by Trump, you’d know the game was rigged. The choice for Americans is between a gun-slinging gambler and a tried-and-trusted sheriff.