The Birth of Modern Politics

I always thought that politics just started getting dirty in my lifetime, that somehow it was much cleaner and nicer and more gentlemanly in earlier times.  This book certainly makes that look like a fairy tale or at best wishful thinking.  It is interesting that even from the bitterness of this campaign there were so many issues that the victor was against that couldn't be stopped like the strength of the federal government versus the states rights.  It is almost hard to imagine the bigger than life president in Andrew Jackson running as a state's rights person.

I got to thinking about the expansion of the electorate that occurred in the 1828 election and some of the warnings that critics had about rich interests determining the interests of those poorer.  Is that what we are seeing today?  It certainly doesn't seem like there was any respect for the office of the president or any more civilized debate, fairness, impartiality, or even honesty in the battle than what we see now.  Watching the principles that Jackson ran on and the vices that he ran against make him look somewhat hypocritical when he abandoned some he stood for and adopted some he vilified in the Adams administration.  Do politics corrupt good morals as bad company necessarily go with politics and power?

If you read the epilogue you will also see how the tactics used in the campaign of 1828 engineered  by Martin Van Buren lost him a chance at a second term when another party adopted them.  Those that live by the sword...

I wanted to mention a couple of things as our next election is coming up.  First from Mike I got this link and thought it was interesting.  The article dwells on politics and the christian and even goes into what freedom of religion means to the practice of religion and politics.
http://www.outofur.com/archives/2008/01/the_bully_pulpi.html#more

There are so many places to get opinions on candidates and there even was a movie released recently 2016 that is about the views and beliefs of President Obama (trailer).  I have noticed that there seem to be no venues that present the candidates or the issues impartially.  Maybe there is no way to do that.  Maybe partiality is part of having a mind and an opinion and the ability to express them.

I must admit that my views and my vote are pretty well set and not likely to change at this late a date before the election, but if people are still undecided what are they looking for to change their mind?  Is it possible to change someone's mind about something they feel strongly about and if you don't feel strongly about anything then what would impress you?  Are we then just looking for a personality?  A hero?  A scholar?  Someone striking?  Someone witty?  Someone intelligent?  Are we really just shallow in our convictions so as to reduce them to whims?

What do you think?