HATRED AND STRIFE

"He's never had a job in his life, the dirt bag!"

I was startled both by the tone of his words and the contempt in his expression that erupted in the midst of a moment of what I thought was light hearted banter. It left me speechless wondering how an otherwise solid family man and church-goer could be overtaken by such vitriol.

You might think we were talking about some miscreant who had made the headlines from a recent police blotter. But no, he was reacting to my mentioning of the President of the United States. His expression was very similar to the one on Joe Wilson's (Republican Rep. South Carolina) face when he, by his own admission, lost all sense of decorum and disrupted the President's speech to a joint session of Congress embarrassingly blurting out, "You lie!", for all to hear. It was a new low in partisan politics for which, after being confronted by congressional leaders, he apologized to the dismay of many who think he's a hero.

It is abundantly clear that our national political conversation has ventured into some very dangerous territory. Opponents of President Obama, who have been removed from their accustomed seats of power by an electorate disgusted with their bungling in recent years, have decided that the only way they can influence the outcome of health care reform policy, is by cynically relying upon their media propagandists to whip their shrinking audience into hostile hysteria. It is a calculated and coordinated strategy that has infused the body politic with a toxicity from which we may never recover. Too many under the influence of this deadly elixir have surrendered to an irrational hatred that is driving them to believe that it would be better to destroy the country than allow the proposed reforms.

Of course, there is a reaping what you sow aspect to this for the democrats. When they were the minority, they too employed some very uncivil tactics to leverage their limited power. Of President Bush many of them shouted, "He's not our president!" It was no less an attempt to deligitimize him than the right wing efforts to discredit Obama currently in play. Such tactics should be off-putting to reasonable people and disqualify anyone using them as a credible source. That includes propagandists like Olberman, Maddow, Limbaugh and Hannity who make a living by keeping their followers emotionally worked up and reactionary with their spew.

We need a national time out. We need some training in civics. We need honorable statesmen and women to rise above the fray and show us how to have political debate without resorting to the eye gouging, biting cage fighting of our current debate. Leaders who will offer their opinions and make their case with reason and facts and graciously accept either victory or defeat when the votes are counted. Absent that our future looks sad.