The Rabbi Richard A. Block had an article in Saturday's paper extolling the virtues of the Golden Rule. The golden rule says to love your neighbor as yourself or do unto others as you would have them do unto you. In his article he went on to stress that politicians especially when they are campaigning should follow this rule. No doubt he like many of us is dreading the upcoming election season.
His article was all well and good until he started with examples of the failures of the last election season. His examples included the idea that the right is particularly adept at slamming their opponents through grotesque character assassinations. He also pointed to some of the accusations thrown at Barack Obama in 08, being a Muslim, and not being an American. No where does he use an example of the Left's misdeeds. His one sided treatment of the issue made me think his Golden Rule was do unto others before they do unto you.
If your going to call for more civil discourse you better be ready to talk the talk.
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Bob,
ReplyDeleteNothing new there. Every election cycle if Republicans actually try to win they are called out for a lack of civility. If a Democrat candidate does something outrageous it is praised as caring enough to do everything necessary. As to the rabbi's request that politicians should play nice during campaigns, there is a term used to describe candidates who are too nice - "Loser." The only type of candidate who can afford to be above the fray is a well-financed, popular incumbent without a serious challenger.