{"id":5801,"date":"2012-11-01T15:02:37","date_gmt":"2012-11-01T22:02:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/?p=5801"},"modified":"2012-11-04T16:47:02","modified_gmt":"2012-11-04T23:47:02","slug":"do-not-hate-mitt-romney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/2012\/11\/01\/do-not-hate-mitt-romney\/","title":{"rendered":"Sorry, But I Don’t Hate Mitt Romney"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

flickr: mafleen<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

This past weekend, I had the privilege of spending 36 hours in Ohio.\u00a0Apparently\u00a0they are getting a good deal of presidential\u00a0election\u00a0attention. In fact, I came \u201cthis\u201d close to\u00a0being at a joint Paul Ryan Rally and Pumpkin Chucking event.<\/p>\n

Good times in Ohio. I am sure the election season can\u2019t be over soon enough for my Ohio friends.<\/p>\n

While I was there I had a good talk with a friend about what seems to be a genuine HATRED of President Obama. I realize that during election season there is always some level of mud-slinging and personal attacks, but the tone this year feels different than just trying to sway voters. This year it feels like the disdain and hate of Barack Obama is clogging up whatever\u00a0free-flow\u00a0of public debate that was left.\u00a0I almost don\u2019t care about why the hate seems to be so strong\u00a0and I am not so naive to think we can all \u201cjust get along,\u201d but I do think this tone has to be\u00a0challenged\u00a0and we must all refrain from stoking the fires of hate.<\/p>\n

This past week, with my \u201cPeople really HATE Barack Obama\u201d\u00a0antenna\u00a0up, I clicked on an\u00a0article, Fear and loathing in campaign 2012:\u00a0<\/em>As patriarchal, Christian dominance fades demographically, its backlash politics have only become more vicious<\/em><\/a> by\u00a0Arthur Goldwag, author of\u00a0Cults, Conspiracies, and Secret Societies<\/em>.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2026the kind of hatred that I\u2019m talking about goes way beyond ordinary politics and deep into the realm of abnormal psychology. In its full-blown manifestations, it is akin to what an ophidiophobe feels at the sight of a snake: visceral and existential; categorical and absolute. It turns on the gut certainty that your adversaries aren\u2019t looking just to raise your taxes but to destroy your whole way of life: that they are not only wrongheaded, but preternaturally evil. Comparatively few people experience these feelings on a conscious level, but they lie latent in many more of us than we might suspect.<\/p>\n

Now I have been pretty clear that I am not a Romney Supporter. I would say that I am\u00a0an Obama supporter<\/a>, with a soft spot for Stein<\/a>. And while I vehemently disagree with what Romney stands for on\u00a0marriage equality<\/a>,\u00a0immigration<\/a>, government programs<\/a>, etc. and think his election would be horrible for the United States in so many ways, I can honestly say that I do not hate him. In fact,\u00a0I am one of those people that does not hate anyone. Be it political, professional, or personal, hate is a waste of my breath, a waste of my energy and a dishonor to God.<\/p>\n