Deplorable

One of the more infamous comments coming out of the United States' 2016 presidential election thus far came when democrat nominee Hillary Clinton called nearly half of her opponents followers "a basket full of deplorables." For starters, generalizations are rarely a good idea. Trying to lump millions of people into one category is dangerous business. Look what happened four years ago when republican nominee Mitt Rominey characterized nearly half of his opponent's supporters as "takers." I would say the comments from Clinton and Romney were both deplorable. Fortunately, both persons walked back what they said.

Still, it does not change the fact that here in 2016 much of the communicating going on is, in fact, deplorable. Most, in fact, seem to agree with that. Ironically, this even includes a number of the folks who are among the most active offenders. They refute what the other side has said about their candidate and then proced to jump right back into the cesspool of name-calling, lieing and mischaracterization. No wonder so many people, including those planning to vote, are so turned off by this year's election. No wonder people from all over the world are looking at this and thinking "What in the hell is going on?"

The United States is better than this. It really is. Sadly, though, one would not know it from the level of communicating that we are seeing and hearing every day. For me, I am wrestling with the question of whether this is reflective or where we are as a nation in terms of communicating, or if this speaks to the lack of quality of the specific folks doing much of the speaking in this campaign. Perhaps I am being gullible, but I am clinging to the notion it reflects those on the playing field these days rather than the nation itself. At least I sure hope so. If I truly believed the US had sunk this low, then my belief in our country would be beyond repair.