Today's the Day!

Along Florida’s Treasure Coast – which includes Indian River, St. Lucie, and Martin counties – the name Mel Fisher is legendary. Fisher was a treasure hunter who, after years of searching, located the remains of a Spanish treasure fleet that was lost during a hurricane in 1715 near the mouth of the Sebastian Inlet. However, his greatest nautical find was the Atocha, another Spanish treasure ship that sank along with seven others off the Florida Keys in 1622. At the time of its sinking, the Atocha was carrying an estimated 40 tons of gold and silver along with 71 pounds of some of the world’s most valuable emeralds from Columbia.

Fisher’s discovery of the Atocha’s final resting place was not achieved overnight. On the contrary, it took more than 16 years of searching and cost the lives of three divers, including his oldest son, Dirk.

Throughout those long years of monotonous and unfruitful diving, Fisher kept his team’s spirits high by announcing each morning that “Today’s the Day!” And finally, in 1985, that day arrived.

As a reward for their diligence, Fisher and his team recovered 114,000 silver coins known as “pieces of eight”, along with the aforementioned gold and silver ingots, and pearls from Venezuela… a treasure valued at between $250 and $500 million.

Well, my friends, I don’t think any of us will be diving for sunken treasure off the Florida coast today. However, tens of millions of our fellow citizens will be going to the polls to elect the next President of the United States along with 34 U.S. senators and all 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives.

The Republicans are hoping to add to their majority in the House while picking up enough seats in the Senate to regain power there as well. If the polls are right, Tim Sheehy will unseat John Tester in Montana and Jim Justice will defeat Glenn Elliott for the West Virginia seat currently held by Joe Manchin, who is retiring. That would give the GOP a 51-49 majority… and if they can pick off Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, or Wisconsin while holding onto Texas, it could be a big night for the Party of Lincoln.

However, as is the case every four years, America’s eyes will be focused on the race for the White House. Ever since Kamala Harris replaced a sinking and sagging Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee, the polls have pointed to one of the closest presidential horseraces in history.

Time will tell who comes out on top, but hopefully we will have an answer before the sun comes up tomorrow morning. Will the results mean the dawning of a new era of peace and prosperity similar to what we experienced during Donald Trump’s first term in office, or will Americans turn the keys to the Oval Office over to a failed Vice President simply because she defends the “right” of women to murder their own preborn children?

To say that our nation’s fate – and our children’s future – hang in the balance is not an overstatement. All we can do is pray that the voters will get it right and that, in the words of Mel Fisher, “Today’s the Day” patriots take America back from those who seek to diminish and destroy her.