Will treachery of political battlefield destroy us?

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In theSteven Spielberg movie about Abraham Lincoln, there is a scene showing Lincolnslowly riding a horse through a horrific battlefield scene just after theconclusion of a bloody battle. All about are corpses and torn bodies of men whofought fiercely and unrelentingly to prove the worthiness of their cause. Littleis actually proved as a result of this conflict, and the cost ishideously high. Friends and families have been irreparably torn apart, like themangled bodies strewn through the field.It could easily serve as an aptmetaphor for the 2012 U.S. presidential election campaign.
If there hasever been a more negative, brutal attempt to personally destroy politicalopponents, it must have been during the American Civil War. In the presentbattle, money is unlimited and morality has no bounds, leading to anunquenchable blood lust in pursuit of something which will be called “victory”but will be as hollow and overpriced as the battlefield aftermath. Will wedrape the winners with honor? Will the losers forever suffer the smears of characterassassination? Will the winners have been proved absolutely right; the loserscompletely wrong? And, whatever the outcome, will the cost, not merely in moneybut in humanity, even remotely be justified? If there is no land to rule butscorched earth and no tools but crippled institutions, how is the long march toward humanenlightenment and progress advanced? Thepolitical campaign of 2012 has opened a Pandora’s Box of treachery and open, senselesshatred (an obvious oxymoron.) The campaign was never about touting the superiorabilities or talents of one contestant over the other. From the beginning, andeven before, it has been solely about destroying one particular individual.   Thiswas the announced goal of the House of “Representatives” and the all-out thrustof a Faustian coalition of the impotent remnants of a once proud politicalparty with a rogue band of outlaws intent upon pulling the temple down aroundthem.
As I writethis, the result of the election is unknown. The outcome is far less important,however, than whether “the last best hope of man” can somehow find the will andcompetence to keep the flame of goodness and inclusion alive. If we no longercelebrate our common goals and our long held belief in “liberty and justice forall,” our present battlefields will be as tragic and forlorn as any everfought over.