Breaking news – politicians don’t want to destroy America!

Republicans versus Democrats. Blue states versus red states. Bleeding-heart liberals versus fanatical conservatives. Our country is tearing itself to pieces with all of the hateful, malicious rhetoric.

Unfortunately, this isn’t new. Nasty, mud-slinging presidential campaigns have been happening in our country since the Jefferson/Adams election. Note that that election was only the second one – this has been going on for over 200 years.

The fact that it’s commonplace doesn’t change the fact that it shouldn’t be that way. Our country is pluralistic – our people have an uncountable number of ideas, faiths and opinions. What makes our country great is that all of these competing people can find some common ground in freedom.

That all gets lost, though, when politics comes into play. We have politicians on both sides accusing the other of anti-American behavior. We have nasty, bitter arguments about whether or not it was terrible that a young man was gunned down in the street and the perpetrator walks free. We are willing to let people go without basic medical care because if everyone has access, it’s no longer “freedom.”

I have certain views about the way our society should work. I tend toward being more liberal. My mother, on the other hand, is conservative. We disagree vehemently on many, many subjects.

Regardless of how we each view the government’s role in healthcare, or whether or not Barack Obama is a good president, we are both still Americans.

I have the ability to say that I disagree with someone without having to categorize them as “un-American.” I can recognize more groups than “those who agree with me are good” and “those who don’t are bad.”

The vile rhetoric that characterizes today’s political landscape has to change. We, as a society, have come so far in granting rights to marginalized groups. Women have the right to vote, people of color have the right to vote, and the right for anyone to marry is on its way to being codified into law.

We’re not at the finish line yet, and maybe we never will be. That doesn’t change the fact that we have to keep working toward that far-off finish line when we can all be equal.

The first step, though, is to actually grant that there may be valid motivations and reasons for someone to disagree with you. Assuming that anyone that disagrees does so with the worst motivations is like the 5-year-old who’s been accidently knocked down screaming, “He did it on purpose!”

Let’s all agree that if someone is running for president, he or she is probably not anti-American. Let’s all agree that most people in the government aren’t committed to destroying America. Let’s all agree that regardless of whether or not we disagree with the sitting president, he is the one charged with making the call.

And most of all, let’s agree to disagree, at least sometimes. Can we do that?