The volume and rhetoric is going full speed as we stumble towards election day.  As the attacks become more personal between candidates and the accusations more absurd – both direct and coordinated via interest groups and interested "media," there is a great deal of discussion about how nasty things have become and how we need to return to civility.

Think it really use to be more dignified and kind?  Thank again.  Although broadcast TV, cable "news," and Internet communciations seriously amplify it, the rhetoric and venom that has flown through campaigns in the past is epic.  Check this well done video that highlights the election of 1800 – Thomas Jefferson vs. John Adams.  This was a sitting Vice President running against the sitting President.  Think about that scenario today…