Once a year we all seem to come to our senses. Christmas is near, just in time as our country is rocked by one of the nastiest years in political history. We need a miracle. Isn’t it fitting then that we are about to again celebrate the greatest miracle of all time, the birth of a saviour to the world, Jesus Christ. Christmas is exactly what we need in the midst of our confusion of who we are, where we came from and what values we share.

It is with great disappointment that we witness the diminution of decency, dignity and character. As politicians, sometimes led by our president, succumb to lowest levels of personal invective against opponents, it brings to mind the question asked by Joseph Welch in the infamous McCarthy hearings: “Have you no sense of decency, sir?” All this contributes to the public’s disdain for politicians. Let’s hope that Christmas softens the hearts and blunts the tongues of the many public servants whose only interest seems to be in themselves.

Another major disappointment and burgeoning problem is the lack of trust now richly earned by some major segments of the media. Lines are continually crossed and the separation of news and opinion blurred. As a person who has spent a lifetime in the medium it is deeply disturbing to find headlines and copy presented as news coverage when in fact it is often filled with opinion, innuendo and obvious bias.

Our major broadcast networks and all cable networks are guilty of presenting news in a platform dripping with political bias. Turn to MSNBC, with Morning Joe and Mika, and on the same day watch Fox News. You would think that we are living in two different countries. Where do we turn now for straight political news reporting? It has all become so bad that soon a majority of people will get their news exclusively on social media like Facebook or from various online sources. Congress and the media share the scorn of a public that demands, as Jack Webb used to say in a famous TV show, “just the facts, ma’am, just the facts.”

A good example of confusing coverage is the handling of the Republican’s tax reform plan. Is the plan the greatest boon to the nation’s economy, producing many more jobs and an epic tax break for the nation’s middle class, or instead is it a massive tax break for only the wealthy? Opinion is one thing, but facts are another. Remember the saying, “You are entitled to your own opinion but not to your own facts.” I never thought that we would reach the point that people would oppose tax reductions for themselves, but when reporting does not stick to the facts and educate the public, personal bias seeps in. Our Sen. Susan Collins should be saluted for her apparently successful efforts to preserve important deductions. Hopefully she will be a deciding influence in favor of a plan that will incentivize business to propel our economy, assuring the first real growth in jobs and wages in a decade. Sen. Collins, unlike Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, believes in business and capitalism.

This week the big political news came out of Alabama. I have mixed emotions about the result of the Jones-Moore debacle for Senate. But one certainty emerged, as it has many times before. Barry Goldwater was wrong when he said, “Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice.” Roy Moore is just the latest example to Republicans that voters will always reject extremism. Of course the former judge was also hurt by the latest political campaign of personal destruction, during which he failed to convincingly defend himself on charges of sexual misconduct leveled against him, whether true or not. Republicans must learn that the successful formula is compassionate conservatism, not extremism.

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Politics is displaying the ugly side of human free will. In times like these it is important to remember that love conquers all. We join in prayer for a world in political and moral chaos with this reminder from John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son so that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

Tomorrow I celebrate with family my 82nd year on this imperfect planet. Renewal of the Christmas miracle gives me the hope needed that all is never lost — that blessed peacemakers will prevail — and that this great country, America, will always remain one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

Don Roberts is a veteran broadcaster, writer and political consultant. He has served Augusta as a city councilor at-large, charter commission vice chairman and utilities district treasurer.


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