Mike Boyce:
Exactly right sir. Let’s assess the candidates on the basis of issues and facts. That is the true spirit of democracy.
The liberal/conservative mutual vitriol goes back to the first days of the republic, not just the 60s however. Jefferson was called worse than we have heard in this campaign by his detractors on the right (e.g., Hamilton) whose Federalist party was the ancestor of today’s Republican. The building of infrastructure throughout the 19th century was assailed as a waste of money, even though it allowed the development of the country and the creation of vast wealth. Their have been corporate welfare espousing empty suit Republicans (Taft, Coolidge) and professorial silver-tounged Democrats (Wilson, Stevenson) long before the 60s or the current electoral cycle and each side has demonized the other. This blog is a perfect example of the tendency to want to demonize the Wilson/FDR/JFK tradition just as the right wing did in other eras. And the accusation that the MSM is in the pocket of your political enemy is nothing new either. History moves in fits and starts and so far in the USA we have avoided the total demonization of the press and intellectuals as has happened in other countries at other times (Germany, China). I only hope that those of you who shout down your opposition, declare candidates need not answer questions due to the biases of the questioners, and lose no opportunity to caricature the other side with every manner of demonstrable slander, will at least admit that the right to engage in debate is a strength of our system and not a weakness.
