We need to be better citizens

This weekend I went to an awesome play, “God for President,” which is still running this Saturday and Monday, anyone in Provo should go see it (www.newplayproject.org). The main idea of the play is that a group has decided to campaign for God, but they discover that God means different things to different people. Despite that, he is an integral part of the American nation and people. It sort of tempered some feelings I’ve been having recently. I’ve been getting increasingly frustrated with the political atmosphere of this country, particularly this year. I’ve become disgusted with the candidates themselves and with our citizenry and how they all seem to be willing to lie and mislead to support their candidate and discredit the other. I’ve been thinking, is there any way to resolve this? Should I just leave for a more politically friendly country like Canada or Denmark? I almost feel like the west and south of our country have stolen what we in the North East have worked so hard and sacrificed so much for. I almost feel like we should secede so we never have to deal with another president from Texas keeping us from doing what we want.

What the play reminded me of is that when it comes down to it, most Americans are good people, and we have two great candidates running. I support Barack Obama because I checked out where he and McCain stand on the issues on CNN.com and I agree more with Obama, but I still think McCain is basically a good person. What I’m afraid of though is that the candidates and the people at large are demonizing not just the other candidates, but also their supporters. We are dividing ourselves, and I’m afraid that it may lead to violence. We all need to realize that neither of the candidates are anything we should be afraid of. John McCain is not a traitor who doesn’t care about the environment, a limitless hawk who is in the pockets of the oil companies, a Bush clone with no executive experience, an economic lightweight who doesn’t support women’s rights, an immigrant hater who wants to privatize social security, an opponent to stem cell research who wants rape victims to pay for their own exams, or a 100% negative campaigner with a cracked-up education plan. At the same time, Barack Obama is not a non-patriot who was sworn into the senate on the Koran, a secret Muslim who hasn’t passed any legislation, a white-hater who condones the words of Louis Farrakhan, a future enemy of Pakistan and future friend of Iran, a greenhorn communist, an anti-Israeli or anti-Christ, a first amendment destroyer who wants to raise everyone’s taxes, a funder of Kenyan terrorism who has ignored climate change, a crony of Castro or Rezko, the reason for high gas prices who wants to disarm our country, a massive government grower who has never crossed party lines, a sexist who wants to teach sex education to kindergarteners, a second amendment opposer who stands against clean coal, a small business destroyer who wants to kill abortion survivors, or a domestic terrorist sympathizer who is involved in voter fraud (all rumors are from the false or “pants on fire” attacks against the candidates on politifact.com). Neither candidate means the end for America, and I think both of them would be good. I of course think Barack Obama would be better, but if McCain does get elected, I’m not moving to Canada right off the bat.

I think it’s on us as citizens to behave like adults and be respectful and respectable. I think in the future we need to truly demand the same from the candidates, possibly even introduce campaign legislation against attack ads. And we need to discuss issues, not superfluities. If you want to talk about Obama’s tax plan and what it actually means in economic terms for the nation, that’s great, but if you read on someone’s blog that he punched a nun when he was fifteen and that’s why he shouldn’t be president, you need to learn a few things about journalistic integrity and grow up a little bit. From this point on, I’m not going to discuss things that aren’t real issues, although I would be glad to discuss things that actually matter if you feel so inclined. Now go see the play, think about how respectable your behavior has been, and change appropriately.