Dangerous Words

By Jim Ross Lightfoot ——Bio and Archives--October 24, 2024

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Sitting here in God’s waiting room, the word “nasty” violently bounces around the room. The source is all the rhetoric in the Presidential Election.

Politics has always been a rough-and-tumble business. However, after riding this old rock named Earth around the sun 86 times, the vitriol and hate we witness have never been this intense.

Yes, politicians take shots at each other. Yes, they have differing opinions regarding how to address the issues facing the people they hope to represent. That is what elections are all about: electing good people to work together and solve the nation’s problems. That is the intent and guarantee in the US Constitution, the document that is the very blueprint of the United States.

Starting 30 – 40 years ago, political consultants discovered that a strong opponent in a political race could be defeated by destroying the opponent's personal reputation rather than using the debated issues. The focus shifted from the difference between what a person or political party believed to outright warfare against the other candidate’s personal reputation. In the beginning, the “destroy the candidate” methodology was used to split a candidate from a base group that would typically support the person.

An example is driving a wedge between a candidate supporting Christian values and a prominent Christian........

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