Rage blinds us to the real issues

By Adam Kotlarczyk

Red-faced, spittle spraying from the man’s shouting lips – it could have been the stands at a Bears vs. Packers game, or maybe NIU vs. Maryland. But it wasn’t. It was a protester outside the Republican National Convention.

Inside, things were no better. The keynote speaker, Sen. Zell Miller, a Georgia Democrat (in title only), was raging against John Kerry, steaming to an appreciative audience that as president, Kerry would defend our nation with “spitballs.”

And then it got really ugly.

Appearing afterward on the CNN show “Hardball” with Chris Matthews, the abrasive host questioned Miller closely about some of his remarks, sometimes interrupting his guest’s answers and treating him in that trademarked Chris Matthews way – rudely. Miller, understandably, got upset.

All he had to do was stand up, put down the microphone and walk away.

Instead, Miller sputtered, “I wish I was over there so I could get up in your face.” Then, the 72-year-old told Matthews, “I wish we lived in a day where you could challenge a person to a duel.”

And that, in a nutshell, is where political discussion in America is at in the 21st century – on its way back to a method of dispute resolution used in the 17th century.

The vitriol affects all of us. When last week I wrote a column critical of some of President Bush’s programs, I received several e-mails from outraged conservatives on campus. One said simply, “You’re an idiot!”

Yet, when I wrote back to these people to ask about their views and explain my own, they were surprised. One wrote back that he was impressed I “did not resort to personal attacks” and that I was “respectful of [his] beliefs.” He told me his encounters with other students had been different. We still don’t agree. But he didn’t challenge me to a duel, either.

The truth is, with the nation as divided politically as it has been at any point since Vietnam, partisan sloganeering seems to have taken the place of meaningful discussion.

Vote Bush? You must be an ignorant, wealth-worshipping warmonger. Vote Kerry? You must be an ignorant, tax-and-spend flip-flopper.

And then there’s my personal favorite – each side insisting the other hates America.

Let’s get it straight, folks. Neither side hates America. Both sides love our country enough to be passionate about its direction.

Real leaders know this. Just as Republican Sen. John McCain told RNC attendees that political debate, “should remain an argument among friends who share an unshaken belief in our great cause and in the goodness of each other,” Illinois Senatorial candidate Barack Obama told DNC attendees that, “there’s not a liberal America and a conservative America – there’s the United States of America.”

This election needs fewer slogan-chanting fans and more critical-thinking open minds.

Instead of cheering (or jeering) as though for a sports team, we should be discussing what Kerry means when he says we should fight a “more sensitive” war on terror. Or how Bush can defend an economic plan that has turned a budget surplus into a record deficit. Or how and when either of these men will stabilize Iraq and bring our troops home.

Whichever “team” you’re rooting for, it’s time to practice freedom of speech and freedom of – not freedom from – listening.

Save the rage for the people who deserve it – the Green Bay Packers.

Columns reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily that of the Northern Star staff.