It’s true that American politics can seem pretty dirty when one sees some of the attack ads and negative campaigning. Still, let’s keep this in perspective. Compared to much of the rest of the world, politics in the USA is still pretty gentle. Losers for president don’t set up parallel shadow governments and refuse to recognize the winner, as has been happening in Mexico recently. Mobs don’t roam the streets burning cars when their candidate loses. Although we have had a few assassinations of government figures or candidates in our history, in general these have not been political in nature, with one party assassinating members of the opposite party. It has been a long time since there were fist fights in Congress. We don’t have armed coups. Republicans and Democrats don’t have armed supporters roaming the streets, kidnapping opponents and having firefights in the middle of towns.
Looked at in comparison to other countries, even some other first world countries, American politics is really pretty civilized. We ought to be thankful for that.
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