The Tax-Raising Fetus Killers Versus the Out-Sourcing Torture Fascists

I was just reading a discussion thread on digg.com about a new David Lakoff book, Whose Freedom? The Battle over America's Most Important Ideas and, as all political discourse on the Internet must, it devolved into mud slinging. Partisans calling one side "tax-raising fetus killers," and the other side responding with "out-sourcing torture fascists," or some such nonsense.

Ironically, Lakoff's book is about language as a political weapon. He is advocating that the Democrats should fight fire with fire by taking back words like "freedom" and "liberty," which have been co-opted by the Republicans.

I was thinking about all of this when I realized how partisan I have become. At this point, I would vote for a corpse provided that he or she were a registered Democrat. I just feel that the government is completely out of balance and that we need a Democrat congress to balance out this White House.

Thinking this way is hopeless. It feels like we're fist-fighting on a sinking ship. Don't debates and rational argument work anymore? Must the entire future of our nation come down to the focus-group perception of political buzzwords?

My fantasy president is a person who uses the power of the media and the Internet to treat us like adults. He or she should appeal to our sense of responsibility, not just our patriotism. Will we ever have a leader that takes the time to explain the common denominator between terrorism and global climate change (our profligate use of oil)?

Sadly, no. I think the last president to treat us like adults was Jimmy Carter, and they practically ran that man out of Washington on a rail.