Published on: Wednesday, February 17, 2010

By Brian J. Karem

I am, like many people I suspect, tired of the snow. Mounds of white, icy slush are piled high over my head, making my life more difficult than it needed be, squelching economic activity, causing me pain and suffering.
Wait a minute? Am I talking about snow and ice or about our local politicians?
Guess it's both.
This revelation came to me as I told my kids to play nice outside in the snow and quit hurling ice chunks at each other from the confines of their snow forts at polar opposite ends of my yard.
If it sounds like life in politics, then you'd be right.
How I long for politicians who act less like spoiled children and more like adults.
This comes after moderating a candidate forum for the U.S. Senate this week. The candidates were, for the most part, cogent enough. Some had very decent ideas. They were all affable.
And, all of them had at least one idea that merited consideration as legislation.
But when it came to discussions about the incumbent in the race, most of the candidates couldn't help themselves - they heaped the worst kind of insults with a fury reserved for anonymous e-mails and facebook chatter at their opponent. Referring to their opponent's party as being run by socialists and making backhanded references to terrorism and extremism did not bode well either.
Mind you, individually the four candidates at the forum were amiable enough - indeed downright likeable.
But when voicing their differences with the ruling party in D.C. they backed into the kind of bombast that would make Rush Limbaugh proud.
I'm sick of it, quite frankly.
John Adams was probably right when he recoiled at the thought of the country dividing itself into political parties.
It subverts the idea that we're all ultimately on the same team.
At the end of the candidate forum on Tuesday night, I took myself out of the role of moderator - which I admit was enjoyable - to speak to this issue.
No matter what our political affiliations are, we are all Americans. That's how I was raised. And while I may disagree with what you say, I will defend to death your right to say it. And while I may not always agree with you on a particular political issue, it doesn't mean that since you don't agree with me you're a socialist, a minion of the devil, or a dweller of a nether region reserved for child molesters, mass murderers and serial killers.
We face real problems in this country. And I suspect our economic woes are far from over.
We have to face health care reform head on. We have to face our energy dependence, the problems of terrorism, illegal immigration, budget deficits, lack of spending for NASA (my pet peeve) and other equally weighty issues with an attitude that's a far cry from what I see from both sides of the political aisle today.
Let me therefore be blunt; quit acting like my teenage children stuck in the backyard throwing ice balls at each other. Play nice.
Or, as I teach kids on the football field - quit fighting with each other and running each other down. We're all on the same team.
We all want the same thing.
The American dream is alive because we learned to put our differences behind us and work hard together for common goals.
The American dream should not be endangered by our competitive nature. It should thrive because of it.
I know Republicans I respect. I know Democrats I respect. I know that in the district the feeling of bipartisanship is a far cry from what it was even as recently as the Ronald Reagan era when Tip O'Neil and Ronald Reagan would share moments of friendship even as they fought each other like cat and dogs over the direction of the country.
If the Reagan era was as rosy as Republicans like to paint it, then it was also because the loyal opposition was loyal while still opposing Reagan. Tip O'Neil and the Democrats shared in the success.
So, today the Republicans and the Democrats also own our failures - which are great but not insurmountable. Start working together, show the electorate you care enough to put away the name calling, and anything is possible.
Play nice. Don't make me pull out my belt.