Goodnight Bush-Bashers

I normally don't venture into politics here. Mainly, I'm just not that interested in the subject, and I find fancy-talking politicians a waste of my time. I'm going to make an exception for this post because I've become more and more appalled by recent trends.

As some of you know, I worked part-time at an independent bookshop this past year, and in the past month or so I've noticed that at least 3 or 4 of the top nonfiction bestsellers are consistently Bush-bashing books. One of the recent books is a parody of the famous children's book "Goodnight Moon" called "Goodnight Bush." Each page of the book says goodnight to some "failed" aspect of the Bush administration. Now, I appreciate a well-done parody, but I felt this one crossed the line. Moreover, I found this book to be a symptom of the increasingly accepted attitude of the populace.

The main question this book and others raised for me is: When did it become not only acceptable but encouraged to so publicly and ruthlessly malign a human being based on his/her decisions? I understand that many people disagree with most of Bush's policy, and I even encourage disagreement because it can lead to dialog, which then leads to progress and growth. But how can progress and growth occur when dialog is not possible because disagreement has changed from mere disagreement to hateful spite? It seems to me that the current political and cultural climate has made exactly that switch from mere political disagreement to bitter hatred. As a Christ follower, I feel that maligning another person, no matter what their beliefs, is morally reprehensible.

Ultimately, I don't believe that people should stop disagreeing with President Bush. It's only natural to butt heads with someone, especially when he/she has such an opposing viewpoint. I don't believe, however, that the proper response to disagreement is to do exactly what many people do now: Bite back with harsh, hateful criticism. This response only hurts our nation.