Character Smears and Character of America

The predominant claim by political entities that campaign against the character of the opposition candidates is that they are protecting the character or integrity of the office. In fact, they degrade the character of the office as much as they degrade the character of the voter. Political culture of character assassination does not improve character of the office or of the country, but lowers it to the level of pettiness, nastiness, maliciousness, vileness and ugliness. And that does not improve the character of the office or of the nation; it degrades both.

To create a political culture of character assassination, is to create a political culture of abuse. Abuse then becomes the way of the political process, putting into office the people who are most skilled at abuse - and frequently at nothing else. That leads to wrong people being in the office and implementing wrong policies - in many cases, given the way they got into the office, policies that are completely destructive and injurious to the people. So that, when a Rick Santorum claims that "sometimes it's good that people struggle" as he votes for a bill to make it harder for single mothers to have their children in babysitting while they are working, we see the product of the abusive character in politics and what it stands to do to the people.

It is not only the ones in office that end up being encouraged toward wrongful action. The politicians' abusive behavior also trickles down to the voter. It influences people to behave in abusive ways to their families and to the people over whom they have influence. And that by itself is a source of needless suffering for millions. The constituencies that are abusive, or that want to be abusive, thrive on such politics. The more abusive the constituency, the more drawn it is to the politics of character smear. The level to which an individual or a constituency supports character smear campaigns is a good measure of the individual's or constituency's embrace of abusive practices in their own lives. And the more political life is based on
abuse, the more people take the example, the more abuse becomes the reality of people's lives.

The abusive character of the political culture trickles up to the office-holders and down to the regular people. And then not only is the character of the political discourse diminished, but people's own character gets worse and worse, as does the lot of people at the receiving end of their behavior.

That, is the true degradation in character that has taken place in politics of America. And the way to restore both statesmanship and American character, is to see through abusive smear tactics and demand dignity in the political process. The people who practice character smear campaigns, are themselves the worst character in the country and commit by their actions a far greater wrong than anything that the people whom they attack could be conceivably accused of having committed. Not only do they bring abuse into politics, but they also influence people to become abusers themselves. And that not only injures the credibility of America; it also injures countless millions of people who stand to be at the receiving end of abusive behavior by people influenced in such a way.

So whenever one sees character smear campaign, it can be said with accuracy that the person doing such campaigning is an abuser, just as it can be said that someone who supports such campaign is likewise possessive of an abusive frame of mind. And bringing dignity and respect back to America requires growing beyond such despicable tactics and creating a culture of dignity in the political process. A person who truly is interested in character will concern himself with character which he encourages in the people. And if he campaigns abusively and influences people to be abusive, then it is him that exhibits the truly unworthy character and does true violence to the character of the political office and of the country itself.