I am watching "Hardball" on MSNBC and I can't believe my lyin ears and eyes. U.S. Congresswoman Bachman from Minnesota just said in so many words that any leftist liberal including many of her colleagues in the congress should be heavily investigated by the media. That they are anti-american.
That just because Obama has served together on a board with Bill Ayers, run by a republican, that Obama is anti-american. By that logic, is John McCain a believer that god punished the citizens of New Orleans? He associates with a preacher that said just that. Does this mean that McCain believes that New Orleans should have been punished by god?
This is so incredibly disturbing that someone so shallow could be elected to our government. How does this happen? And even more disturbing is that her statement just illustrates the division that exists in this country. What has happened to us? Have we forgotten how to disagree agreeably?
I'm afraid the answer lies in the fact that we no longer have a full time mother raising our children. There now exists a large segment of the population that never experienced a stay at home mother. We can no longer afford this lifestyle. We must have two incomes to raise a family. This means families no longer must resolve our disagreements because we live such separate lives. Therefore, we lose that very important education in civility. Insults and such an aggressive manor are not tolerated for long among family members.
When you read comments on blogs, so often a person must include an insult in an otherwise valid criticism. In this campaign, it seems the republicans must do the same. I can't remember seeing or hearing a republican make a point without an insult or insinuation against the other person. This was on display at the recent debate. Obama spoke in a civil way while McCain seemed to start every sentence with "what senator Obama fails to understand is..." Why not just say "senator Obama, you are so stupid that I will explain this to you"?
Now this unbelievable congresswoman has gone so far as to say that her democratic rivals are anti-american. Chris Matthews asked her several times, and she neglected to clarify her position. All she could do was name names of these supposed anti-americans. I was reminded of another infamous politician named Joe McCarthy. He also liked to classify his enemies as traitors. Her position leaves me flabbergasted.
How have we come to this animosity? More importantly, where will this lead? Is this just a disturbing phase or an evolving trend? We can speak of wars, the plunging economy, the national debt, and our health care and housing crises. But perhaps the most important job for our new president, is to reverse this growing divide among our citizens. Most things pale in comparison.