8/6/98

In just a few short days, we will be heading into the fall campaign season in earnest.

The personal attacks have already started. Recently, in South Georgia, a woman hoping to unseat the local democrat fired the first shot. Instead of talking about her opponent or the issues, she attacked Speaker Tom Murphy. She likened him to Hitler and Castro. Called him a dictator (although he was legally and duly elected). We sent out a press release around the state to let everyone know that this is how they will be operating. Well, it created quite a few problems for her and the Republican Party about "crossing the line." Hopefully, by exposing their tactics every time we are able to, this will cease.

It got me to thinking again, however, about people's motives. Why does someone want to run for office? Why would someone be willing to do most anything to get elected? Does the end justify the means? Why would someone run strictly a negative campaign instead of talking about what they want to be pro-active on? In this state, I will tell you why. Because the opposition has no record and they cannot point to a botched-up job, generally speaking, by the Democrats. Watch Roy Barnes so far and in the fall and how he runs his campaign. He is already on record stressing the need and his desire to have both sides run positive campaigns.

I don't know about you but I'm sick of hearing and seeing this degradation of the political process. I remember as a child hearing politicians say good things. I remember feeling like they wanted to be in office so they could contribute to the greatest democracy of all times. I think that is one reason we have lost so many young people in the last twenty years -- why should they want to get involved in this process? I'm sick of the ego-fired "politicians" who think the only ways to effect change is to denigrate the accomplishments and achievements of those who precede them. Maybe I'm a little touchy because I am a native Georgian and know how far we have come and the obstacles we had to overcome to become the bellwether state of the South. But you see this type of conduct in every state. Maybe what they are after is not change. Maybe it is something much more basic, more frightening than that. Maybe they are after power and glory and some warped kind of respect that has absolutely nothing to do with the common good. They are single-minded and self-driven and are more concerned with distorting the truth than they are with improving society. Instead of finger pointing and name calling, these candidates should be debating what they can do in addressing our many social issues.

DO NOT get me wrong. I am not talking about differences of opinion. Those are healthy and normal and are a productive part of the decision-making process. Compromise and reason are the characteristics that seem to be missing from this new breed of candidate. The biggest problem in this country is not crime or the budget or President Clinton's morals or even morals in general. I have said before and will continue to say as long as I am able, the biggest problem we face in this country is allowing a "mob mentality" to take over. What separates us from almost any other country is the belief in and adherence to our Constitution, even when we do not always agree with the Court's interpretations. If we allow extremists who are skilled in rousing fear, disgust and loathing in regular people, then we will be no better than other countries where "popular leaders" become the law. If all else fails in your ability to determine who is worthy of your vote, look at how they conduct their campaign.