Two weeks ago, we had an post on Uncivil Civics here on OurGreenwich, in which the implication was that the uncivility was a one-way street aimed at the Republicans whose lawn signs had gone missing. Well, “my friends” that’s not the case. Just now, as I took my recycling to the curb, I noticed that someone had trespassed on my property and stuck a McCain/Palin sticker over the Obama/Biden bumper sticker on the car parked in my driveway.
I had to throw away the bumper sticker, but unfortunately for the perpetrator, I had another on hand. What’s more, I’m so furious that someone would be so disrespectful of my property and my right to display my opinion thereon, that despite having made the decision not to make any more campaign contributions this cycle due to the economy, I’m going to make another donation to the Obama campaign the minute I finish this post.
Politics is never a pretty business, but this campaign has gone beyond ugly. “This is not a man who sees America like you and I see America,”Palin exhorts the crowds in her speeches. This is a man, the McCain campaign keeps saying, who is “not like us,” leading one one supporter to say at an Ohio rally, “I’m afraid if he wins, the blacks will take over. He’s not a Christian! This is a Christian nation! What is our country gonna end up like?”
Senator McCain was outraged when Rep. John Lewis of Georgia commented that he and Palin were “sowing the seeds of hatred and division” but as an author I know that words are powerful, and when you say that someone is “not like us”, when you accuse someone of being an “other”, you are starting down a very dangerous road.
I, for one, can’t wait for this election to be over. McCain’s campaign is foundering, Obama is being endorsed by more Republicans every day and I believe it’s in no small part because the American people are looking for positive change instead of the fear and loathing of the past.
My sincere hope is that once the dust settles, we are able to not only focus on rebuilding our economy, and our standing in the world, but that we can try to relearn how to have political discourse with respect – without trespass and defacement of property.
