Smear politics

Our nation is known for its ability to meet new challenges, rally in the face of adversity and reach acceptable compromises to solve its problems. In fact many of the most notable American statesmen embraced moderation and promoted national unity: George Washington, who, in his farewell address, discouraged the formation of political parties; Henry Clay, who crafted the Missouri Compromise; and Abraham Lincoln, who proposed a Southern-friendly post-Civil War reconstruction process in the hopes such a gesture would ease reconciliation.

Today, though, it seems the days of the great political leaders who could inspire and unite Americans are gone. Instead, Americans are represented by congressmen like Rep. Tom Delay, whose ability to keep his party's members in line during decisive votes has earned him the nickname "The Hammer." What's worse is these hard-liner attitudes are not isolated. There are many ideological agitators who tend to overemphasize the immediacy of wedge issues in order to rally base support and distract Americans from more pressing issues that are without quick fixes or obvious solutions, refusing to budge from radical positions on a range of both domestic and foreign issues to search for universally acceptable compromises. In fact, the polarization of the political landscape has created endless debate without resolution and action by our nation's leaders. In fact, many have started to refer to the 109th Congress as a "do-nothing Congress," whose most notable accomplishments thus far are failed attempts to reform Social Security and immigration.

This polarization comes from a change in the subcultures of major constituencies that have led to a fundamental culture in American politics. These constituencies not only believe they are right but that those who oppose them are either un-American or even inherently evil. These attitudes have manifested themselves in many recent campaigns, where one candidate characterizes his opponent as unpatriotic rather than a fellow citizen with common values but different solutions to the problems plaguing the nation. One of the most notable instances of such a smear campaign occurred in Georgia's 2002 U.S. Senate race. Vietnam War veteran and triple amputee Sen. Max Cleland was constantly berated with personal attacks questioning his patriotism and claims he sympathized with Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden because of his opposition to the Iraq War and the Patriot Act.

Such rhetoric shows the political establishment in Washington is more concerned with electoral victories than resolution, with allegiance to ideology over obligations to constituents and personal conviction. Ultimately, this causes a shift in the national debate from the pressing issues of the day such as the rising cost of college tuition and energy, the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, terrorism, health care and the economy to favorite wedge issues such as abortion, gay marriage and gun control, all of which invoke our identities as Northerners and Southerners, Christians and secularists, liberals, moderates and conservatives, and, perhaps, rednecks and urban yuppies rather than uniting us all as Americans.

Our generation has the opportunity to end this rancor. First, we can motivate our elected officials to act by writing letters, telling them how we feel on certain issues, such as college tuition. In addition, the ballot box can send very powerful messages to elected representatives. By studying the candidates this summer and fall in order to find and support people who will oppose the ideological fundamentalism in order to work for consensus, a rebirth of national unity and solutions to this nation's most pressing problems, we can begin to reverse the fundamental culture of Washington. Also, since many of those who are politically active today tend to be from one end or the other of the ideological spectrum, increased involvement by those who are not politically polarized through the dozens of issue-oriented organizations, many of which are campus-sponsored, will also help dilute the fundamental elements that shape the current political climate.

Jason George is a sophomore economics major. He can be reached at jgeorge3@umd.edu.