Guest Editorial: Turning Around The Negative And Nasty

By Recker McDowell —

There is never a shortage of the nasty, negative and disparaging these days in politics, the 24/7 news cycle and on social media.

So, it was refreshing to see the warm wishes for U.S. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-Arizona) when she recently announced her health battles with alcohol dependency.

Those included some positive vibes from the other side of the political aisle.

“Representative Ann Kirkpatrick is in our thoughts today. We are all Arizonans, and we care for one another. All of us at the @AZGOP wish her a total recovery from her medical challenges,” said Arizona Republican Party Chairwoman Kelli Ward via Twitter.

That is good to hear considering the tenor and tone of politics these days. Social media allows critics and trolls to say the absolute worst about those they disagree with politically.

The venom is turning off many to politics and social media all together. That is not good for our democracy, culture and our communities. We need more residents, more small business owners, more students and more seniors positively and actively engaged in public discourse and public policy.

Division and discord will make even harder to address ‘heavy-lift’ issues such as health care, immigration, education and cybersecurity as well as how are communities grow and evolve.

The disharmony is pretty much everywhere online from President Donald Trump and his Democratic foes down to local politics where debates over density and development easily turn nasty.

So, the next time we are tempted to snip, snipe and disparage someone on the other side of the aisle perhaps take the high road and offer a little human kindness and compassion.