Discourse in Discussion...

"Racist", "Nazi", "Liar", "Hypocrite", "Elitist", "Astro-turf", etc.

These are such words that are being heard more than any actual discussion about domestic policies. Many are to blame, not the least of which are the fringe faction on the right and left, and even many of the Democratic and Republican politicians and supporters enabling them.

The mainstream media, which I'm afraid has become nearly irreparably partisan, is also to blame for engaging in much the same fashion. Editorial at best and bigotry at worst, each night on "news" networks, obviously biased talking heads spew their side's rhetoric whilst doing nothing short of demonizing their counterparts on the other side of the aisle: who's more corrupt, who's more in-bed with special interests, who's deceiving the public the most, and so on and so forth.

The internet is also a major factor in this decomposing of civilized discourse, as anyone with an internet connection, maybe even on this very blog service, can spew their opinion (framing it as fact, of course) and the age-old "I read it on the internet, so it must be true" adage tends to take hold, whether it's the President's birth certificate or George W. Bush's desertion of military service (both of which have been widely discuss on mainstream websites and even airways).

All these factors and more leave "We, The People" to suffer the consequences: the general public is just as deceived by partisan hackery as it was a century ago. It is ultimately the people's responsibility to seek out the facts on their own, conducting their own "citizen investigation" if you will, or just a good old fact-finding mission. As with many things in life, the truth won't just arrive in your mailbox or email inbox, unless of course it's been forwarded to you from a friend who forwarded it to all of their friends: THEN you know it must be true.

Right?