Hush now

A short while ago, somebody posted a link selling stickers for open hunting season on liberals. I was going to post the link, but they took it down a few minutes ago.

My husband was appalled, but I pointed out to him that we have northernsun.com, which has some of the best bumper stickers ever, and they are clearly left wing. I like the humor, but I'm sure there are people who wouldn't agree. The open season thing was tasteless, not funny, but dumb, vitriolic people would probably get a hoot out of it.

And that's the last time you're going to hear me call these people dumb. It's not that I won't think it. Anyone who likes jokes about shooting people they don't agree with is dumb in my book, but I will keep it to myself. This is what needs to happen all over America.

Remember back to the days before right wing talk radio. Rush Limbaugh came on the scene and said a lot of things in blunt and ugly ways. He didn't run down his opponents' opinions. He disparaged the people and he did it in childish ways that many people had wanted to voice, but had been too restrained, too adult to do.

He made ugliness not only acceptable, but cool. Disrespect became a hallmark of strength. In true Limbaugh fashion, he made fun of the old restraints by calling them 'political correctness.'

There are people who are old enough to vote that have never undergone an election without negative ads and absurd accusations. It's time to grow up.

The last election reached a new low in behavior on the part of the candidates and their advertisers. Congress is too busy representing parties and wings of parties to do their job, and they aren't embarrassed about it. I think this is a problem. They may have always been partisan, but it needs to go back to being a hidden undercurrent, not really acceptable. We need to bring back the restraint that comes with adulthood.

The young man who shot Gabrielle Giffords was mentally unhinged, but I am not the only one who wonders if he would have done that if political anger wasn't so acceptable.

I will still think people who have bumper stickers about shooting liberals are dumb. I will still assume they like slapstick sitcoms and haven't read a novel since high school. I will still write off as ignorant any editorial that uses the made-up word Obamacare or uses liberal or conservative to mean something it doesn't.

But I can stick to the issues and keep that part to myself. We need to take a giant step backward, take a good deep breath and relearn that politeness is respectable after all.