Another Week

So here we are, another week closer that grand event we call the Presidential election, and we have the President's campaign surrogates all up in arms over Mr. Romney’s comment that no one has asked him for a birth certificate, at the same time the Chairwoman of the DNC is going around accusing the GOP and Mr. Romney of embracing the anti-abortion stance of the Missouri Senatorial candidate running against Ms. McCaskill.  A political talking point Ms. Wasserman-Schultz holds to even when confronted with evidence to the contrary. 

This is what is so sad about today’s politics, perhaps it has always been this way and I’ve just not paid sufficient attention in the past.  No longer is a discussion of the issues possible, it is now about the vilification of an issue or destruction of the candidate so there can be no question of who will win.  I thought that was what the election was supposed to be for.  A candidate says what he believes and if enough people agree with him he becomes their spokesperson in Washington.  I know it is naïve but still I cling to the hope of political fair play.

Obviously that can no longer be the standard, because if someone says something the extremes disagree with; he or she must be crucified, drawn and quartered, and the remaining pieces rode out of town on a rail. While I don’t agree with Mr. Akins, on whatever the heck “legitimate rape” is, the fact that all those with any interest at all in his statement have called for his summary execution seems to fly in the face of a democratic process.  I am pretty confident the voters of Missouri will reflect on his beliefs and take them into account in November.

So who started this slide into attack politics?  Can it trace its roots back to Cain and Able or is it something more recent, just a natural evolution of our society?  Are we, like the Romans, evolving from a Republic into a strong central power with a Caesar, where these campaigns become our Coliseum, where gladiators live and die each day on the choice of the mob, where the Christians are feed to the Lions, and where extravagant displays are arranged to divert attention from the political decay?