Does anyone other than me find this endless election process a destructive force in our highly polarized nation? Certainly time must be devoted to sorting out and picking a candidate to run for President in 2012, but must it begin a full eighteen months before the election actually takes place? Must it be such a hostile contest where truth-telling becomes second in importance to one-upmanship? Can’t issues ever be discussed intelligently and rationally or must all questions be answered with an eye only to a clever sound bite? We know how we have arrived at this sorry juncture, but because of our national committment to our Constitution’s First Amendment, no one would ever dare take the televised news media to task for promoting chaos and rancor in order to fuel their profit driven ratings. Perhaps we should attempt to set some limits on the time that these campaigns can begin. Perhaps a cap on how much each candidate can spend. Perhaps we should enact penalties or disqualification for blatant lyes or engaging in wanton slander. Whatever needs to be done, needs to be done soon, or I’m afraid our Republic could once again become so hostile and divided that the possibility of surrendering our democracy might not be something so very far-fetched.
A Nation Divided
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Posted on January 8, 2012
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