The tension of this presidential election year had been building like a volcano ready to erupt and the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump caused a violent eruption of political animosity. As a talk show host, I have paid close attention to every presidential election and the strategies of the candidates and the passion of the voters, but I have never witnessed a presidential election season like the one we are experiencing now in 2024.
As a very young person, I have a vague overview of the heated 1964 presidential campaign between incumbent President Lyndon Johnson and Arizona Governor Barry Goldwater, the Republican nominee. It was a bitter, and for a young kid, a frightening campaign that focused a lot on which candidate would be best at keeping the United States from entering a nuclear war.
There were many contentious presidential campaigns since the 1964 campaign between Johnson and Goldwater, but no one can remember a campaign season as combative as this campaign season of 2024.
What makes this such a combative year is the idea that we, as a country, have entered a time of “personalized politics.” Politics is more personal now than it ever was and any views opposing the candidate someone supports are taken as a personal attack on that individual. I’ve never seen anything like this.
Disagreement over opinions of a candidate or what a candidate says or does are now interpreted as a disagreement with the individual voters supporting either candidate. There is no longer separation between a candidate and an individual voter who supports that candidate and this has led to perilous times when it comes to political discourse in America.
There was strong political disagreement over the writing of The Constitution and political disagreement was part of the forming of our nation, but in modern times the political disagreement never reached a level where everyone tok politics so personally.
By the standards by which radio is judged, my talk show is a success and reaction to the show has been phenomenal, both on and off the air. But there are a lot of people who seem to vehemently disagree with some of my opinions. The aggressive texts to the show and some of the posts on the Scoot On the Air FaceBook page seem driven by hate, for me, not just for my opinions.
I’ve been in this business a long time and many of you go back years with me. I understand that there will always be people who disagree with me - that’s part of the business and I’m fine with that. But the disagreements have reached a new level of contempt because of today’s era of personalized politics. I can’t - and never expected to please all of the people all of the time. It doesn’t matter what you do in life - you can’t make everyone happy.
In the spirit of America and the promise we can disagree over politics and presidential candidates, I want to set a new tone on the air. I can’t change my core beliefs anymore than you can change your core beliefs, but we could all do a better job of talking and listening to each other and even with great passion we can disagree with each other without hating each other and without taking politics so personally that we, as individuals, feel attacked every time someone disagrees with us.
I’m human and while it’s unrealistic to try to please everyone - some of the disagreements do hurt and I can assume that some of what I have said, or more importantly, how I have said some things, must be hurtful to others.
Let’s stand up for what we believe in and let’s be passionate about our politics and our opinions, but maybe this is the time to stop making politics so personal because in the end both sides want the same thing: We want this to be a great country where we are free to live our lives, earn good wages, and raise our families.
Since I am human I will undoubtedly make mistakes, but I will proceed forward in this combative election season with a new attitude of better respecting the other side of every issue I discuss.
