Joy Behar stated that she would like to see presidential candidate Mitt Romney's house burn. Rush Limbaugh called Sandra Fluke a "slut." Earlier this week, Howard Dean, former chairman of the DNC, compared Mitt Romney to Iranian dictator Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Sarah Palin said that President Obama is "hell-bent on weakening America."
It is getting ugly out there, both locally and nationally.
Our political discussions should be based on policy and finding common ground. Instead of tearing eachother down, we need to be finding areas upon which we agree. We all have to live in this country together and only by working together can we solve our problems. Instead of personalizing the debate, we need to understand that each individual's beliefs are held without evil intent but with genuine intent.
While working on the local campaigns, I had the pleasure of meeting a ton of new people in town - a lot of people of different political persuasions than myself. Not surprisingly, we had quite a few areas of agreement when not limited to a few sentences on a blog that will only be distorted and taken out of context.
There is fundamental agreement on both sides of the political spectrum that we need balanced budgets at all levels of government. Most people agree government spending has become an anchor to the economy. Virtually everyone believes that the number one issue in this election is the economy.
Politicians and the media want to divide us and compartmentalize us - whites, blacks, hispanic, men, women, elderly, youth. In the end, we are just Americans trying to keep doing what has made us great for over 200 years. In any event, I am having a blast discussing these issues with my less conservative friends. We agree upon far more issues than upon which we disagree. Further when conversing outside the echo chamber of a blog, it is easier to learn something new.
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