Restoring Sanity

I've felt like this for quite some time, and honestly thought that it was somehow a weak position considering the context of the current political climate. Having witnessed, of all things, the Daily Show's plea for sanity, however, I realize that nothing could be further from the truth. It takes very little strength to resort to some of the madness exhibited on both sides of the debate; real strength would be continuing to stand for our highest principles despite all the sensationalized animosity and vitriol. Here are my thoughts on the subject of the current political state of our nation:

Neither side can claim the high ground while cynically mimicking the tactics of the other's worst behaved representatives. We're slowly dragging the whole discourse down this way, the whole nation in fact, much as "an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind". I wonder what it would be like if, instead of justifying stooping down to the level of our opponents' random, poor examples, we tried to one-up each other, killing with kindness, each side trying to prove itself to be comprised of bigger people. If we stopped trying to exploit the sensationalism, the worst of us on either side, we might actually make the concept of the Great Debate mean something again.

Isn't it about time we all took a deep breath, and realized that very few of us really like who we are when we lose our dignity by trying to strip others of theirs? Let's just admit it, at this point, it's everybody's fault. We're not going to get anywhere trying to argue who's more at fault. It's time we just start saying enough is enough. We're all Americans, damnit. If that's such a great thing, then we need to start acting like it. Does it even matter how we got here anymore? Why or for what are we waiting, that so few seem prepared to appeal to the better angels of their own nature for a change? A house divided cannot stand, and right now, with both sides seemingly battling for total supremacy, there's no way we'll do much more as a nation than stagger into the nearest ditch and die.