Column: Candidates bashing character

Attack ads are the new norm it seems when it comes to elections and politics across the globe.

Last year’s federal election was a shining example of the complete lack of class inside global political systems.

We were berated on Canadian television with “he said, she said” ads that had absolutely nothing to do with public policy.

Some of them didn’t even attack any policy at all, and instead opted to try and paint their opponents as opportunists or ruthless dictators.

I personally didn’t see those qualities in any of the leaders.

If Michael Ignatieff really hated Canada so much, then why did he take a job in Ontario when he was defeated?

If Stephen Harper is such a ruthless, hick dictator how is it same-sex couples can still be married and why does the CBC still exist?

Being close to the United States isn’t helping either.

The attack ad capital of the world has developed a two-party state based entirely on negativity.

I almost feel sorry for President Barrack Obama when everything from his professional reputation to race is assaulted by often ignorant ads filled with wildly irrational speculation.

Then I go on Facebook and watch Obama mocking the Republican presidential debate as their candidates sit there slinging enough mud at each other already.

Republican candidate Mitt Romney has had to put up with questions about his religion– he’s a Mormon– in a land where freedom of religion is supposed to reign supreme.

Is that fair? Maybe if Mormons were a fringe cult whose very beliefs betray the U.S. constitution and its safety.

 I’ve never awoken in the middle of the night fearing that my LDS neighbours were a threat to my security.

Alberta politics may not have gone so low yet but we have gone just as confusing.

Why launch an ad blitz against a new premier deriding her for not delivering on change less than a week after she assumed office?

Alberta Premier Alison Redford hadn’t even named her cabinet or explained where the $107 million for education would come from when the Wildrose Alliance Party launched its campaign against her claiming just that.

It’s made even more strange when WRP leader Danielle Smith says “Albertans are tired of politicians who’d do anything for power.”

She’s right but she is by definition one of those very people.

Ads so soon and so far away from an election seems like opportunism, not promotion.

The WRP isn’t evil; it’s campaign is just another in a long list of bad taste that all parties have contributed to.

Multiplication aside, negative input cannot create a positive outcome. Is it really any surprise that the world is in such a crappy state when the vast majority of its leaders got elected by flinging that very substance at each other?

We’ve all heard something to the effect that a positive state of mind creates a positive world and all ideas are worth considering when we don’t assume the worst.

If the world is going to get better we can’t have our leaders clawing for each other’s throats.

The cycle keeps getting worse as politicians start pointing the finger at each other for the state of politics while refusing to accept responsibility for their own actions.

It’d be strange to see them hugging and holding hands, but why can’t they sit down and work out the countries problems together like they have during times of extreme crisis?

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