Most of us who vote, and others who unfortunately don't care to vote, are very edgy right now.
Screaming curse words at their flat screen tv's, arguing openly with their friends about who won this or who lost that, and posting messages online cheering on their favorite contenders and bashing their favorite's opponents.
No, I'm not referring to the Cardinals as they fight for 12 in 12, or to the Rams who finally have a chance for a winning season.
What I'm talking about is the presidential election season featuring the openly agressive campaigns between President Obama and Governor Romney and a cast of millions who have chosen sides and dug their heels into the ground.
This is a time when long time friends have become your enemies with any type of gesture or word against your chosen candidate.
It's clearly Republicans versus Democrats. It's conservatives versus liberals. It's open warfare and it's not pretty, not effective and it changes no one's mind in any way, shape or form.
One simply needs to read the political blogs in our own O'Fallon Patch to understand what I am saying. It's political trash talk at it's best, and that's bad.
Now that the election is three weeks away the intensity of the heat is in full swing, and sadly, most of it is negative.
Neither candidate nor party ever detail what they will do when elected, only what the other candidate or party cannot do or hasn't done. A campaign of hate and negativity from the top filters down througout the country. We are in verbals wars with our friends and our neighbors. It's wrong.
I am not tired of the presidential issues that are at hand and I am happy that we can all go to the polls and make our individual choice for president on November 6th.
What has worn me out mentally and emotionally is what I have experienced personally during this whole year - the division and a lot of hate among my friends and my Facebook friends.
It goes without question that politics can bring out the worst in some people. I have seen that in personal conversations with my friends and with the vast negativity I see and no longer read or pay attention to on my Facebook page.
A recent post on Facebook read, "I hope I still like all of my friends after election season." I hope so too. I'm not sure.
This comical post is much more than humorous, it is true. Some people can be the best of friends, but as soon as their political beliefs are aired with no intention to have a positive and open discussion, it all goes down hill. Lifetime buddies are now at each other's throats.
In my case, an old college girlfriend from my distant past will no longer communicate with me and I will not communicate with her. Why? Because I expressed concerns over her political stance and she did the same with me. Camelot ends before it even started again.
November 6th can't come soon enough.
Either President Obama will remain as president or Governor Romney will become our president.
We need to get back to focusing clearly on the issues that affect all of us.
Whether whoever wins the election does what they've been promising they will do to help our country is another story. Very seldom do these promises become reality. I hope they do, but I doubt it.
The anger between both parties, the back stabbing and anger is for the birds.
We make presidential elections more and more like the Super Bowl, the World Series, the NBA Championship and the Stanley Cup playoffs every year.
Can't we just get along?
Great post. But I have recently read in the news that talk of rioting if President Obama looses has reached an all-time high on Twitter. I don't know if people are just talking smack, or if they are actually planning something. What I guess I'm saying is that maybe when the election is officially over it really won't be over.
I just finished watching the second presidential debate. It was too hostile. The worst part was that each candidate responded to the questions with talking points instead of answers. For example, one question offered was a simple "yes" or "no" question. However the answers given evaded the question. The moderator tried to pull each candidate back to the original theme of the question but neither candidate would follow. With the fall of the Roman Empire came The Dark Ages. We might not return to burning people for being "witches", but where we are headed might be just as scary.
When Thomas Jefferson ran for president the opposing camp and their newspapers started the rather nasty rumor ... which was hard to rebut at a time when news traveled slowly ... that Jefferson was not a viable candidate because he happened to be dead. What's different today, as Jim notes, is our instant connectivity and our instant ability to express our political views to the world on FB and to trash the views of our friends. I came close last week to de-friending a FB friend who referred to Joe Biden as a "walking **** with ears." I thought better of it, reminding myself that vitriol happens in presidential elections, and that I should be careful of my own words on FB because one man's impassioned, spot-on FB post is another man's example of a wild rant.
My golf buddies agree.....no politics on the course! We enjoy being together.
Aren't you the "Pot Calling the Kettle Black?" Mr. Frain you should practice as you preach! You have two different set of standards and are hypocritical of any one that does not agree with your thought and convictions.