As someone who has followed American politics for years, I have had a hard time in the past understanding the antipathy of many people toward politics. I wondered, didn't people care about who their leaders would be? Didn't Americans cherish their freedom to speak and vote? How could they detest or ignore such an important part of life?

Now, though, I am beginning to understand the popular distaste for politics, if not share in it. The political atmosphere today is the worst it's been in a long time. Gone are the Singing Senators from both parties who performed for bipartisan amusement, and who represented a basic civility and commonality between the political parties. Taking their place are the raging yellers in government and media who hurl insults back and forth across the aisle. No one on either the left or the right can avoid demonization by the other side.

Hate permeates the atmosphere in Washington, D.C. It screams forth into the rest of America from the political coverage and commentary on television, on radio, and in print. If people are leftists, then to ardent conservatives, they are traitorous communists who support terrorism and hate the United States. If folks are conservative, then passionate leftists condemn them as fascist cultists who oppress the poor and minorities. All energy goes to insults; on hardly anyone's agenda is rational discussion of differences to arrive at mutually acceptable solutions to the nation?s problems.

This has all made political discourse throughout the country increasingly partisan and bitter. As U.S. News & World Report has recently observed, politics has become an ever more powerful instrument that can destroy friendships and divide families.

Even many individuals who bemoan this situation perpetuate it, because they allow the "other side" to agitate them. And in no way will one "side" be the first to give the other a break.

As long as this vituperative poison saturates American politics, overall interest in government will continue to erode. A political process full only of rancor and slander can do little to inspire popular enthusiasm. With a disinterested citizenry, the American government could run even more and more without checks. I don?t know about anyone else, but that thought frightens me.

The American people don't need to accept this situation, though. We can inject civility back into politics. Simply start with yourself: Debate without malice, and disagree without anger. Don't substitute strong polemics for sound arguments. This doesn't mean you shouldn't launch vociferous criticisms; honestly, without them, politics would be dull. But keep in mind that almost everyone here just wants a strong, peaceful, and prosperous United States, and in that, we have more in common than we do in contention.

If you see peers in your life or personalities in the media who perpetuate the dreary status quo, talk to them or send them a letter to tell them to dispense with their partisan name calling and start trying to find rational and wise solutions to this country's problems.

Not only will this improve the quality of argument and discourse in the political realm, but it will make us all feel better, too. Our blood pressures will be a lot lower!