A reason for pessimism

Dan Rather predicted this election season “will be ugly enough to choke a buzzard before we get through with it.” The quadrennial election season always leaves me pessimistic about the future of our system of government. Social scientists have found that negative, nasty appeals elect candidates better than positive, wholesome appeals do. Unfortunately, those negative appeals destroy our shared histories, aspirations, and general humanity. As a result, we can’t cooperate to solve our problems. As Pogo said, “We have met the enemy, and he is us.”

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