There once was a time when I genuinely enjoyed election season. The sharing of ideas, even when I did not agree with some of them, made me believe that we would always find solutions to the problems that faced us. That joy and belief was diminished this past season.
When did we as a people decide that the best way to attain a position of decision making and leadership was to be nothing more than nasty in regards to our opponent? Disregard the exchange of ideas. Disregard the record. Distort the portion of the record that is cited. Pull statements out of context. Manipulate pictures that only serve to illustrate the graphic artist’s lack of skill with Photoshop. Employ money from outside the state and a disgruntled tribe whose source and motives do not have to be revealed. Get my “concerned business neighbor” to write me letters that only serve to make me wonder if they really just have a beef with a state agency.
It could be argued that we saw such behavior to various degrees in many of the campaigns. It would be hard though to deny that one of the most outrageous examples of this was the race between Senator Haugen and Barbara Bailey. The deluge of mailers that we received and the level of misinformation contained in them was a first. I remember praying that voters would question what they were reading. I guess I should have done more praying.
The election is over but I still struggle to get a series of mailers that I thought were the worse of the worse out of my head. In them Senator Haugen, despite a long distinguished record, was referred to as “old and tired”. That was shameful and disgusting. She did not deserve to be treated that way after all she did for our district over the years.
Dick Mathes
Mount Vernon
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