GOING BACK TO "NORMAL"?

This has been a hard fought battle and it divided the country down the middle. It was an emotional battle and it was a dirty political battle and it drove a wedge, in many cases, between friends and family members.

At the end, there was nobody to convince one way or another. I think minds were made up early on and then hardened to such a state that a civil discussion on issues could not be held.

I am not painting myself as someone that was always open to discussion; no, I am told I grew pretty loud and obnoxious during family political “chats” to the point that politics was a banned subject at all our social occasions. Why?

In my mind, opponents of Barack did not really prefer McCain; they just didn’t want Obama, a black liberal, to be president and not because of any real, specific issues. That is what I assumed when silly arguments about Barack’s citizenship, his rumored, incorrectly, Muslim faith and his associations with questionable individuals came up.

My brother-in-law said he was convinced Obama was a terrorist and all because the Internet was rife with rumor mongering by seemingly reputable people who emailed to their list and then individuals on that list forwarded the message to people on their lists, etc., etc.

These were not legitimate issues that could have valid differences of opinion; they were lies designed to appeal to people looking for an excuse not to vote for Obama.

The fact that political campaigns are getting so dirty and obnoxious is alarming and I don’t mean just the campaign for president. In Michigan, TV ads told blatant lies about candidates and proposals. A State Supreme Court candidate lost because the opponent’s ad accused him of sleeping on the bench during an important hearing, over and over and over again. I found out later that it was a lie from people that were at the hearing – is this legal?

I heard that in North Carolina a candidate’s speech was dubbed with a voice saying she does not believe in god and in North Carolina belief in god is mandatory for any office. The candidate is suing and I think more people should sue when they see their character besmirched by blatant lies or even manipulations of their image or their very words.

I think we should have a code of political campaigning conduct and instead of having “truth squads” investigate all claims by political propaganda and report their finding to the general public, they should be given the power to severely fine campaigns that are caught lying.

On the other hand, the Internet has definitely changed the way political campaigns are and will be conducted from here on in. The Internet cannot and should not be regulated and therefore any one running a political campaign must have geeks manning computers to defend against attacks from opponents.

Psychologists say that after the election, we must all let go and get back to normal. It will take me some time to just return to normal if for me, there ever is a normal.