Lately, I find myself completely uninterested in the world of politics.
This is probably partially due to the fact that midterm elections are not for another nine months, so it's just not a very politically-charged time.
But I think my disinterest is mostly because political debate as we used to know it has devolved into a mud-slinging marathon - where everyone is reaching for the same material to volley toward the other side.
I've come to the realization that contemporary politics is a truly venomous field.
It used to be, for instance, the only thing a nominee to the Supreme Court had to worry about before being confirmed was if the Senate considered him or her competent for the job.
But now, potential judges like Samuel Alito, who have years of experience and are perfectly worthy to be on the court, face the fact that they will be confirmed by a small margin - if that - because the opposing party feels they are a hindrance to the party's political needs.
You will no doubt see another example of our current political climate at the State of the Union address on Tuesday.
Almost without fail, the Democratic side of the aisle will not applaud President George W. Bush for anything he says.
You can blame this on the fact that our president has become more of a polarizing figure than Notre Dame football, Duke basketball and the New York Yankees combined, but somehow I think the situation would be no different if it were a Democratic president talking to a Republican-minority Congress.
At the same time, political debate between Democrats and Republicans has gotten so driven by typical talking points, I find myself avoiding such talk just so I won't have to subject myself to one side making another comparison between Bush and Adolf Hitler while the other side flippantly throws around accusations that its opponents are godless Communists.
It's not just me, either.
A liberal friend of mine recently told me he doesn't even bother trying to defend the American Civil Liberties Union to conservatives anymore because he knows the first thing that will come out of their mouths is "NAMBLA," the pedophile organization once defended in court by the civil liberties union for its free speech rights.
In no way am I trying to say that passion for politics is necessarily a bad thing.
After all, passionate political thinkers are almost always the ones who end up leading the country and shaping politics for generations to come.
However, I am suggesting those of us who volley the same rhetoric at our political opposition every time we are confronted with a differing opinion consider a different way of expressing our displeasure.
Political debate can be a beautiful thing if it is done correctly, and if we all start attacking our opponents' arguments - and not our opponents themselves - maybe we can go back to the days when a political debate wouldn't end up with the two combatants screaming insults at one another.
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