The Voices of Hate

Politics is always dirty and nasty. This goes without saying. If you were to read some of the language used during previous candidate sparring in the 1800's, you would not be so amazed by today's rhetoric. There is a big difference though. In the old days, it could take weeks for the text of a speech to reach an audience and with very low literacy rates, only a select few would understand and know about the vitriol. Today, invoking Hitler or Satan or religious extremism or other voices of hate, has an immediate reaction. The bigots and ignorant may be scared into further ignorance by such language but these folks are not to be concerned about because they are who they are and will not deviate from their pattern of hatred and intolerance. It is the rest of us that I worry about. When the issues of pre-abortive vaginal testing as a requirement and contraception and religious zealots challenging the President's authenticity become the issues of debate, then I get scared. When the Palins and Santorums of this world suggest a value system that should supercede our secular society, wise people get turned off. When Mitt Romney, a secularist himself feels he needs to lie about the importance of faith for a few more nutcase votes, the quality of the candidate diminishes even further and the real serious issues of our times are ignored. When Newt Gingrich calls out our President as a danger to our security and weak in defense of the nation, he lowers the quality of the debate and raises the bar of hatred to new levels. As more moderate, smarter, and independent voices get turned off by such lunacy, the spectre of an extremist candidate winning a nomination becomes closer to reality than need be. When the unwise and unfair amongst us, who care more about their personal egos and selling of their talentless books continue to open their mouths, we as a nation become a laughing stock, unable to confront the future while squandering the available talent who walk away from this craziness. Oh my G-d. Where are you Americans for reason and truth?