The conventions are over

Hi.
Both parties have had their parties. Quite something, were they not?
Our road trip is over and a lot of things are 'back to normal' here at home.
I'm going to try to say something in this blog every day until the election. Let me know what you think (I know you will).
Today, while I was cutting the grass, here is what I was thinking. You have to think about something while cutting grass - usually I'm remembering parts of my childhood, most specifically my Mother chiding me for the patterns I cut in the grass. Before you go down the wrong path, the patterns she saw were what to me were the natural curvatures and boundaries within the yard - a bank here, a tree there. I wasn't doing graffiti, or anything obscene.
I respect and admire John McCain. I'm not just saying that, I sincerely mean it. I don't agree with him on many things. He has my respect and admiration because of his military performance - he is truly a hero. And he truly loves America, as do we all.
It is possible, as has been proven many times, for a well respected person to lose that respect, usually by doing something heinous - breaking the law, lying about getting a blow job, whatever. There is a very real danger that John McCain could lose at least some of the respect and admiration he enjoys in this country. That danger is this: going too far negative and far too negative in the remaining campaign. By attacking people instead of issues. By total misrepresentation (lying?) about the position/plan of the other guy.
This has been, historically, a big part of the Republican way of doing things, and it apparently works. It certainly did work in the two previous elections. The Democrats are not above this either, but in my opinion they either are not as good at doing it or they can't stomach the concept of lying to win. They tend to just put their position on the table and expect the American people to recognize 1) what the truth is, and 2) which plan is better, more to their liking. The problem is that with the absolute ocean of information and misinformation it isn't possible for the average Jill or Jack to weed through it all - and by the way, that certainly includes me.
We all can recognize a positive campaign and a negative campaign. Ask yourself, which do you appreciate and believe? I can only answer for my self - I want a positive campaign. I want a campaign where the candidates push their own programs, their own plans, their platform. And I want the candidates to be able to compare their plans with the plan of their opponent. I want (I want, I want.....) discussions to stay on point.
Here's a simple example of what I mean by that. When discussing plans for education, stick to plans for education. Debate the merits of the voucher program for instance. Debate what our educational priorities should be. Debate the concepts. Debate the details. Debate the cost. Debate the return. But don't transition the debate to taxes (HOW are you going to pay for it?). When this happens, all of the important (red meat) of the discussion is lost. Taxes are a separate issue, to be debated at length. Paying for a program is certainly a part of the discussion of that program, government income and outgo (budget, balanced?) is a big enough subject in itself.
So stay on point.
I haven't done a good job of saying on point in this blog. Perhaps that's why I'm not a candidate?!