Maybe the presidential debates should be more like WWF matches, where the candidates do a lot less talking about the issues and a lot more smacking the crap out of each other until there’s a clear winner.
Perhaps a tag-team match would be even more appropriate, so Gov. Mitt Romney could bring his son Tagg into the ring and give him the opportunity to “take a swing” at the president like he said he would like to.
Taggart Romney expressed his urges of violence towards the president on a radio interview after the last debate.
When a North Carolina radio host asked him what it’s like to hear President Obama call his father a liar, Tagg said he wanted to “rush down to the stage and take a swing” at the president.
He then said he wouldn’t do so because of all the Secret Service officials in between him and the president.
If you actually watched the debate, Obama didn’t literally call Romney a “liar.” He did, however, imply several times that Romney was being dishonest.
That aside, it’s actually sad that someone who went to Harvard Business School would be so open, honest and almost proud of such animal-like statements.
Sure, “Tagg” sounds like the name of someone who would be on the Jerry Springer Show, but the world doesn’t exist on the set of Jerry Springer.
You can’t just go around beating people up for saying something you don’t like.
Tagg’s behavior, however, represents exactly what’s taking place across America every single day.
People are taking their political differences way too personally when it comes to their relationships with others.
When someone disagrees with your point of view, it’s almost like an attack on your personal belief system or something.
If I’m from a red state of mind and you’re from a blue one, we can’t be friends; I want nothing to do with you, and I want to take a swing at you for thinking my way is wrong.
This is the exact attitude that has led to the polarized, black or white, left or right, my way or the highway lifestyle we’re all living in the United States.
Before we take those swings at each other, we have to remember that we all want the best for our nation.
We all want the next generation to live a better life than we did, and it has always been that way.
Our ideas of what “the best” are, or how to get there, may be different, but our hearts are all in the right place.
What we should be doing at times like this is communicating with one another, not taking swings at each other.
If a person disagrees with you about something, have them explain why. Then express your point of view.
Even if you don’t come to a conclusion, agree to disagree on that issue and remember that the similarities most likely outweigh the differences.
We can still respect one another and be kind to each other, even if we don’t agree on something. It’s called “being grown ups.”
Tagg was probably caught in the heat of the moment and made a stupid comment. The Secret Service aside, the Obama girls would probably take him down before he has a chance to touch their father.
The point is, though, if no one is left to meet in the middle, work together and understand each other, then we can’t claim to be as “united” as our nation’s name says we are.
Red state or blue state, they’re all part of the same United States.
It’s about time we put our fists down and started acting that way.
Jack Chavdarian is a senior journalism major and the assistant online editor for the Daily 49er.