Daring Young Mom

Tearing down politicians seems to be a favorite pastime in this country. I don’t remember things always being so vicious. At what point did we stop thinking of public servants as people and start using them as punching bags to absorb all of our pent up angst and rage?

I am definitely not planning on naming any of my future children or pets after George W. Bush but neither am I going to spend my life blaming all the world’s problems on him or finding ways to berate and mock him. It’s super cool right now to rip on Bush, to find a reason, any reason to be negative about him.

I think it all started with legitimate concerns about his policies and actions as president. Then it snowballed into something ugly, a disrespectful free-for-all of personal attacks. It makes me sad to see so many people so bitter and angry.

Now I’m all for debate, discussion, thoughtful criticism and even intelligent satire. We owe it to ourselves, our children and our leaders to keep them on their toes, to ask hard questions, debate policy and vote our consciences. But I think we’d be better off if we maintained a level of honor, civility and respect.

In the current election people seem to either passionately support one of the candidates or think they’re both a disappointment. I hear frequent talk about choosing “the lesser of two evils”, a ballooning pessimism and cynicism overtaking political discourse.

And I think, “What the chicken?!”

In this presidential race we have 2 men who I believe are good people, sincere in their desire to make positive change in this country. I don’t agree with either of them completely on how to accomplish that. Neither do I think I could do any better nor would I want to take on that kind of responsibility, especially in these tough economic times.

So I say, “Hooray for a free country where we get to choose between two impassioned, intelligent, honorable people to lead us.” (Yes I know there are other people running for president besides Obama and McCain but I’m referring to candidates who have a snowball’s chance of winning this election.) I would just encourage everyone to take a breath and practice some Pollyanna-style politics this November. Look at the good you think each candidate could accomplish and choose who you think could do the most good, not “lesser of two evils.”

In that spirit, I’d like you to leave comments today with positive things about either or all of the major presidential candidates and their running mates. Come on. I know you can do it.

*Any comments that Pollyanna wouldn’t approve will be deleted for this post. I want to keep it positive.*