At Some Point

At some point in the history of politics in this country, politicians must have decided that the voting public is uninformed, uneducated and easily manipulated. So they can be lied to.
As I monitor this campaign I am disgusted. You would think that with President Barack Obama involved, the discussion would be elevated. Even just a little bit. And truthfully his comments are sharper, funnier and more to the point than R&R.
But he is still forced to defend himself against lies, which pulls him down into the mud. I won't give him a free pass; he could probably do better than he is doing campaign-wise. But as with his entire presidency he is forced to deal with the republicans.
And these are not intelligent or moral people.
It is generally assumed that The Founding Fathers were exceptionally intelligent men. The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, are amazing documents. Their vision for this country was astonishing.
Did they look down on "average" Americans?
I don't want to believe that. I want to think they actually had our best interests in mind as today's politicians don't.
I believe at some point this country began a long slide downward into mediocrity which probably had at its source greed and condescension.
Then again when you consider how we made this country our own, you have to acknowledge that there was no honor in that.
But maybe condescension is a function of intelligence. Maybe George and the boys laughed together over a not so civilized whiskey  at night, licking their chops considering how they were going to get rich at the expense of the working stiffs.
Political campaigns in this country are an embarrassment. Not only do politicians not do anything about the enormously dangerous problems threatening to destroy the lives of the wee folk, they don't even talk about these issues on the campaign trail.
They act like immature teenagers. They lie, they point fingers, they exaggerate.
They treat the voting public like morons. They manipulate opinions using fear and emotion and prejudice as triggers.
I think politicians should be held to standards of truth. There should be independent organizations set up like the super pacs, whose function it is to identify blatant lies. And then publicize them in TV ads which the lying politician is forced to approve.
This campaign is a sideshow. It has enormous consequences but it comes across as reality TV.
I guess in actuality it is reality TV. Because this is the reality of politics in America.
We have nothing to be proud of.