Most of the internet is opinion, while I usually try to tie my articles to news of the day or other articles of interest. For this, my first post here, if you will indulge me, I am going to rely entirely upon my own opinion.

I strongly believe in the great Ronald Reagan’s Eleventh Commandment, “Thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Republican.” While I have no problem pointing out policy differences I might have with various candidates, it is my firm belief that those differences need to be articulated in civil terms. Invectives and personal attacks, such a mainstay of this entire medium, must be avoided. In a medium where nothing is ever lost??where comments made years before can be brought forth in evidence, the utmost care must be taken to provide our adversaries as little ammunition as possible.

An attack is an attack is an attack!

There is nothing sadder, to my way of thinking, than the acrimonious primary contest in which candidates from our party beat each other up, arming their opponent in the general election with statements made by other Republicans. Who can ever forget the “Voodoo Economics” comment made by candidate George H W Bush during the 1980 campaign against candidate Ronald Reagan. The left still pummels us today with that phrase, when ever supply-side economics is mentioned.

In a similar light, invectives aimed at candidates with whom we have policy differences, expressed on the internet, will come back at us from the left, our own words used against us. Why should we arm our opponents? Let the left find its own attacks, we need not arm them by offering our own.

Strong passionate and partisan support for our own candidate is a part of politics. A positive agenda, articulating our candidate’s strengths and positions, and civilly pointing out how those positions differ between candidates, is also an important part of the body politic.

Mud-slinging, invectives and personal attack, unfortunately are also a part of the body politic, a part of which we dare not indulge when discussing our own.

We all hope to field candidates with strong visions for the future. It is important though, not to saddle those candidates with a past of our own making, filled with mud slung indiscriminately by our own partisans.