The Stench of Politics and the Appel/Sorenson Race

I was up early this morning and had WHO-TV on in the background as I prepared for the day.  Haunting music wafted from the box and one grainy image after another flashed across the screen at every commercial break.  We are in the final weeks of election season in America and the state of political discourse is in the toilet.  No, it is lower than that.  It swims in the sewers.

All of the ads screeching from my television this morning, except for two, were negative.  Terry Branstad’s positive, hopeful spots were a welcome breath of fresh air amidst a nearly unrelenting blast of putrid hyperbole.  There were too many nasty ones to count.  It is time we voters demand better from those running for office.

The single worst ad of the season hit me as I was walking out the door.  A child was playing with a truck on the floor, his back to the camera.  A narrator recited the human cost of domestic violence as printed text reinforced the number of women and children harmed and tragically killed in such acts of violence in our state.  The kick to the stomach was the ad made it sound as if state senate candidate Kent Sorenson’s vote on a piece of gun legislation is directly linked to these dreadful events. 

I would have voted differently if I had been in Sorenson’s position and I strongly believe more needs to be done to protect people from falling victim to an abuser.  Moreover, Sorenson’s campaign behavior has been reprehensible in many ways as well.  However, Staci Appel’s advertisement is shameful.  The Appel attack ad represents what reeks in politics.   She should be ashamed.

I am not naïve.  I know negative campaigning works.  As on school playgrounds, cheap shots like these often do.  But, more is at stake here than who gets to sit at the “cool” table at lunch.  There is a growing divide in our country.  For an increasing number of voters, a party label is the determining factor in who is branded good and who is branded evil.  If you are not for my candidate, you are against me, America, freedom or, as Appel implied in her ad, for making it easier for barbarians to batter and abuse women and children.

The problems and opportunities we face as a people demand thoughtful debate.  To continue our upward climb as a nation, we need those who serve in office to be the brightest among us.  But, fewer and fewer brilliant people are willing to put themselves and their families through the meat grinder of modern politics.  This shrinking candidate talent pool means we will likely fall short of what we could achieve otherwise.

We need to reform how campaigns work and to send an unmistakable message to candidates that we want them to stop the bashing.  A person who is able to outline a vision for the future and convince people to follow is a leader.  A person who tears down others just so he can win an election is no better than a schoolyard bully and deserves the adult version of detention.

Ms. Appel, Mr. Sorenson and other offenders of election decorum, you were wrong and we look forward to seeing you after class to discuss how we can do better, together.

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A summary of the nasty Appel/Sorenson race can be found here.

(Graham Gillette can be reached at grahamgillette@gmail.com)

This entry was first published as a Des Moines Register blog entry.