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Tone down the rhetoric and listen

The recent election made me a bit inquisitive. It is just me, or are other citizens asking the same questions?

Where did leadership go? Where are the Mark Hatfields and William Fulbrights? Where are the Ronald Reagans and John Kennedys? Why are there only politicians and not statesmen? Why are they always running for office and not running the country? Was Profiles in Courage a work of fiction?

Why are political ads so repulsive? Why do politicians lie about one another? Is it wrong to pay taxes? Then, again, is it wrong to cut budgets and spending? What happened to civil discourse? Does our citizenship obtain information only from the extreme right or left?

I wish I had the answers. I don't. But I do know that we citizens ought to show the politicians that we can tone down the rhetoric and actually listen to an opposing point of view. Maybe if we do, they will. And if they do, just maybe they will be leaders and statesmen.

John F. Donahue

Lisle