Purple People Vote

Oh how much better politics could be if we’d…

1. Stop the Hitler and Nazi references. This is so ridiculous, yet a very common rhetorical device in politics. Usually the comparison sounds something like: Hitler was left handed and Sam the Senator is left handed therefor Sam=Hitler. What Hitler is most known for is being responsible for the deaths of millions of people. There is no one in modern American politics that is even close to being in this category. So please knock it off you’re not scoring points, you’re just making yourself look foolish.

2. Have some manners and common decency. Don’t wish harm on people, don’t ridicule people who have just passed away. If you wouldn’t say something to someone’s face don’t say it anonymously online.   This is not a request for everyone to hold hands and sing Kumbaya, this is a request to keep it out of the gutter and remember that your opposition is human too.

3. Stop pretending that only the opposing party acts inappropriately. Besides whenever a party starts claiming the mantle of purity and justice, you can count on one of that party’s members getting caught doing something truly rotten, corrupt, or sleazy.

4. Sort of a corollary to pet peeve #3, is that political parties should stop believing that once their party has gained power that they will be in power forever.  This typically becomes evident when a party’s membership starts acting arrogant or acting like brats.  A little historical perspective could be handy, in 200+ years no party has dominated.

5.  If someone disagrees with you that does not automatically make them evil.  Debate is a good thing, and we could use a lot more of it.  We wouldn’t have a Constitution if it wasn’t for debate and compromise.

6. Keep science and math ‘clean’.  Politicizing science and using creative math is a sort of insidious political tactic that muddies the debate that makes virtually any ridiculous claim/position possible regardless of logic.

7.  We need better media organizations.  A couple examples of the pathetic news media…  Lack of coverage of the protests in Iran, while giving Michael Jackson’s death 24-7 coverage.  Making punditry appear to be news, and stating opinions as fact.  Striking bias particularly in cable news. Networks taking sides in political races and on certain topics marring the credibility of the media in general.

8.  Hypocrisy.  It always seems like the guy that champions family values is the one caught doing something inappropriate in the airport men’s room; or it’s the crusading prosecutor of prostitution that has to fess up to leaving thousands of dollars on the countless night stands.  [BTW if you do screw up, don't drag your poor wife out in front of the cameras with you.  Don't you think she's been through enough?]

9.  Leave politician’s kids alone.  They didn’t sign up for this.  It’s a low-ball tactic to go after a politician’s child.  People will come up with some reason why it’s okay, whether it is age, or a public appearance that was made, but in reality it’s not the kid the critic has a problem with, it’s the parent, and that critic just can’t resist the cheap shot. Please, resist.

10.  Not every political or current event requires a full scale freak out; or in other words ‘Calm Down!’  My theory is that this is the reason many moderates and ‘regular people’ start tuning out politics. It is the hysterical tone that partisans often take that drive people away.  For instance here are a few thing that don’t warrant a melt down – President Obama’s blue jeans, Governor Palin’s visor, Senator McCain holding his breath as a child, Joe Biden asking a man in a wheelchair to stand up.

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This isn’t intended as an intictment of all partisans or politicians.  In fact, it’s possible that a majority committ very few if any of these ‘sins.’  It’s simply that they are such annoying elements of politics that when committed they may drive good people away from the process, and make observing politics as pleasant as listening to fingernails on a blackboard.