In a recent editorial, The Reverend Jack Haberer, Editor in Chief of The Presbyterian Outlook magazine says this about the current national presidential campaign:
Once both of these underdog party outsiders secured the nomination, their respective parties, determined to win the White House, switched on their marketing machinery to promote them. That machinery has honed its methods over the years, the most effective being to send chills of fear through the bones of the public about the dangers of electing the opposing candidate.
I have never considered this. I think he's right and it's a great point. The tenor of the national campaigns completely changed when McCain and Obama secured their nominations. When they were running their own campaigns, outside of the national party machines, things were much more civil. Once the national parties took over, everything changed.
My high school government teacher (Shawnee Mission North, Class of 1980, Go Indians!) taught that the only responsible way to vote it to find a party that represents what you believe and stick with its candidates because this is the only way the national agenda can be realized. Now I am beginning to think there isn't a national agenda anymore; if there ever was. It's just a political game of keep-away. More's the shame when good men get dragged through the mud of others.
Check out the entire editorial here. It's worth the read.
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