These unwarranted and destructive personal attacks have changed behaviors. Many highly qualified individuals now refuse to enter the political arena. They are unwilling to expose their families, friends and business associates to these vicious untrue allegations. This is truly unfortunate because it takes a lot of personal courage to run for any political office and many highly qualified and talented individuals refuse to have their reputations and character sullied and damaged by the irresponsible comments and accusations made by supporters of the political opposition.
Regrettably, our political process is not concerned with civility and mutual respect but is focused on winning at all costs. We just accept that the quest for political power and control is all consuming and unfortunately, power and greed will always make winning the most important objective.
When will we demand more from our political system and the candidates? As voters we must demand that all candidates repudiate this type of character denigration and insist there be consequences if it occurs. We cannot be so focused on winning that we willingly accept or condone malicious personal attacks that can become destructive to the candidate, their families, the political process or our community.
Solving our local and national issues can only be accomplished if we can communicate effectively with each other and effective communications cannot occur without mutual respect. Until we are able to treat each other with civility and respect and accept the right to differing opinions we will not be able to resolve the issues that confront our cities and nation.
All politics are local and these destructive attitudes begin at the local level. We need to keep this in mind during this and future political seasons and try to keep focused on the issues. We must not allow ourselves to be distracted by the malicious, derogatory and slanderous comments made by both sides about the candidates. Perhaps it’s time to give serious consideration to candidates at all levels that support civility and mutual respect.
