Oracle Online

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, minority leader in the House of Representatives, accused Dennis Hastert, her Republican counterpart, of being a “desperate man” after Hastert made claims that Democrats seek to “coddle the terrorists.”

These childish personal attacks are nothing new. Verbally assaulting an opponent’s credibility by degrading their personal image is known as arguing ad hominem, which in Latin means “arguing against the person.” It’s also known as “mudballing” and has been an ugly constant throughout the history of politics. It’s one of the most well-known logical fallacies taught in introductory logic courses, and it’s disappointingly effective. After all, one is much less likely to listen to someone else that is widely thought of as “unpatriotic.”

Quite frankly, this mockery of political debate between Democrats and Republicans is disgusting. It clogs news websites and newspapers in much the same way that gossiping clogs the hallways of an elementary schoolčand it’s far more damaging. Instead of the self-esteem of a seven-year-old girl at stake, there are decisions that influence the rest of the world and other people’s lives in drastic ways.

Politicians need to take more responsibility for their words; the issues that confront us as a nation are far more important than debasing the other political party in the eyes of the voters.

Partisan attacks show a real disrespect for the intelligence of the average voter as well. Politicians are being interviewed as if they are movie stars engaged in catfights, ignoring the real repercussions of their pointless and inane delays to the political process. They actually believe this is what the people want to see.

It’s insulting. Politicians seem to believe that we can’t process a real debate, so they make their opponents seem like lesser human beings. This sort of behavior wouldn’t be tolerated at a classroom discussion levelčyet the politicians who represent us at a national level are given free rein.

Students of Hamline, I beg you to look past these petty excuses for argument to the core of politician’s agendas. The only way to stop being manipulated by childish politicians is to vote according to issues and not how eloquently one politician can debase another. It’s below us to be so crudely twisted into thinking the way they want us to think.