Deplorable. There is no other word for it. But we as a culture have some responsibility. And maybe Jerry Springer too. When we allowed yelling and screaming to stand in for debate and civic conversations we lost more than we knew.

When we collectively as a nation allow lies and mis-information to stand unchallenged in a civil manner, even when it supports our beliefs, we lost even more. We now have succeed in having our political dialog come down to who is a C and who is S.

I take political time outs. I seek out sane thinkers and speakers. I try real hard not to curse on social media sites. I hope to network with sane folks that truly want to dialog and find solutions. The road is long but I have to stay on the path. (With rest breaks as needed.)

My husband and I have been having a similar women-in-leadership conversation for a few months now, and he asked me what could be done, especially given the general hostility toward politically vocal women of any party. I wish I has an answer for it all, but if I were god for a day, I think I’d institute gender quotas for the Congress. Which insults my conservative tendencies, but would at least get us all closer to equal representation.

I don’t know, Heather. I’d run for an office myself if wasn’t honestly afraid of the kind of abuse you describe above. Gah.