Partisan bickering does not advance discourse

TO THE EDITOR:

I've never been so exhausted in my life.

Not from homework. Not from exercise. Not from staying up late at night. I'm exhausted from this election.

I used to love politics. I found it exciting and dynamic and important. But I think that this election just may do me in.

Frankly I don't know how or why people have gotten to be the way they are about politics. It's just so easy to criticize isn't it? It's just so easy to demonize members of a political party that you don't agree with" isn't it?

But since when should adherence to a belief system and tolerance of other belief systems be mutually exclusive?

Which brings me to say something that I'm sure may come as a shock to many people: Democrats are not the devil … and Republicans aren't either.

I read the snarkiest letters to the editor in the DTH. I hear equally snarky comments regarding both Republicans and Democrats every single day. And it disgusts me. And it wears me out. What really gets me is when someone angrily writes in and thinks they've written something really profound that's going to make the ""other side"" cringe and seethe with rage.

Just to let you know" that just makes you look even more pretentious than you already are. I wish for myself that I could in fact always look at an issue with a mind entirely devoid of presuppositions and biases. But I can't. None of us can. And while we shouldn't be expected to always look at things with a clear mind and an open heart I think we should be doing a heck of a lot better than we do.

Next time you hear someone say they're pro-life and you're pro-choice don't just assume they're a Palin-supporting neoconservative without a brain. And the next time you hear someone trying to explain why they're in favor of universal health care don't just assume they're a hopeless liberal with no grasp on reality.

The people I admire most in life are those individuals who are able to look at things evaluate them and make their decisions accordingly. And even when they don't agree with someone rather than throw a tantrum or spat back equal or worse accusations and criticisms toward the person they sit back and listen.



Ann Ansley

Senior

Journalism Political Science