This 2024 election has all the earmarks of being the worst yet. I don’t mean the results, whatever they may be. I mean the shouting, the hatred, the insults, the divisiveness. We seem ready to set new records.
War can do that of course. It creates fierce passion. That’s not bad. Surely we can withstand (even welcome) a tough, no-holds-barred-debate. But on top of all the rest of the polarizing our politics has seen from both parties in recent years – and from 24/7 confrontation cable too – shouldn’t we think about taking a deep breath? Without it, the 2024 campaigns may produce their own war zone right here at home.
It hasn’t always been this way you know.
There was a time when the Congressional leaders of both parties shared the same car to ride to a White House meeting with the President.
There was a time when most new Members of the House brought their families with them to Washington – and the spouses became friends across party lines and forced some inter-party socializing.
There was a time when the Senate leader of one party would never even think about going to campaign against the Senate leader of the other party.
There was a time when everyone in Congress got there by competing in their election for the voters in the middle and therefore held a number of similar views on tough issues.
There was a time when public service seemed infinitely more important than party loyalty.
To some it may seem idealistic, utopian and sappy, but “can’t we all just get along” as Rodney King asked not so many years ago in Los Angeles after the police beating he received touched off night after night of riots.
Differing over whether we should have ever gone to Iraq doesn’t do much to figure out what to do now. Hating the other side does little of anything to solve any of our other crucial issues: dependence on foreign oil, failing schools, soaring national debt, unaffordable health care, lobbying corruption in Washington, global climate change, and more.
You know the list. They will still be there on November 8th, no matter who wins on November 7th. The question is whether the blame-game campaign of 2024, regardless of the results, will leave us closer to finding answers or further from even being able to talk about them.
Can’t we all take a breath?
