Our liberties rest only on the willingness of good men and women to charge into the fray of politics when they think change is needed in government. But merely getting into the battle is not enough. One must be willing to remain engaged.

In that light, what happened recently in Georgia should be viewed by all Americans — Republicans, Democrats and independents alike — as a political tragedy.

National attention has focused on the race for one of Georgia’s seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. That is because the Republican candidate, Marjorie Taylor Greene, has said she supports the QAnon movement. It is enough to note that QAnon is based on conspiracy theories with no foundation in fact.

But recently, the Democrat who had been opposing Greene — Kevin Van Ausdal — dropped out of the race. It is too late for his party to name a substitute for the Nov. 3 election. Van Ausdal’s campaign manager would say only that the candidate was leaving the race for “personal and family reasons.”

Whether one supported Van Ausdal or Greene, voters in Georgia’s 14th Congressional District were entitled to a choice on Nov. 3. Now they will be deprived of that.

The Van Ausdal situation ought to be a lesson to political party leaders at all levels: When interviewing potential candidates, be certain the one you choose can make a solid commitment. It also seems pretty clear that election laws need to be adjusted to allow a substitute to join a race when a candidate suddenly quits.