We Must Do Better!

I'm always amazed to read the comments on the newspaper blogs. I don't know why I even read them. It's virtually all crap being said about our candidates. No one give specifics - it's all generalizations, lies, distraction, and rubbish. How can anyone engage in a debate with "nothing"?

I'm talking both sides of the arguments. I say 'If you can't back up your comments with fact and reason (not hype and BS) then you should do the world a favor and keep your mouth shut.'

No one wants to read lies, garbage and badly thought out arguments with no substantiation. What's happened to America? Where is our ability to think?

Politics isn't about making each other angry. It's supposed to be about reasoning the best solutions to our common problems. Instead our political parties are teaching us to hit negatives and attack character. And where there is no connection with allegations, then the trick is to make one up.

Real debate requires facts, not just repeating political talking points. Most of what we hear and see is trivial dribble of personal opinion and/or blind attacks about candidates we neither know nor want to know.

I don't care about what a candidate says about another candidate. I want to know what she has to say about the issues. Does what she say ring true? Are her propositions reasonable? Did she think through the issue and bring a solution to the table that will work not just sound good? What is her education? What kind of track record does she have? Does she inspire me and make me want to be a better citizen? Has she been involved in her community and if so, how?

As long as we engage in this kind of politics we are going to keep getting the same sick, lame and lazy results. Real politics takes work and its time we rolled up our sleeves!