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People are outraged over the behavior at the town hall, but it’s not like the protests against universal health care did anything like, say, disrespecting the dead. 

Everyone knows that I’m a Republican. Hip Hop Republican. Proud Young Conservative.  

Therefore, when I say that I’m sick of hearing about complaints that Republicans are too rude and disrespectful during the town hall debate, I’m sure that people are going to point out that I’m a Republican that “needs to give the brother in the White House a chance instead of tearing him down.” 

I hear you. When it comes to some of the rudeness out there, I agree. I’m not down for the manner through which some are communicating their disapproval with their congressmen and congresswomen. I understand their frustration, even if I don’t agree with their approach.  

With that said, people need to remember back just a small while ago. 

I am not here to remind people of what President Bush went through during rounds of harsh criticism. Just like President Obama, the 43rd president knew what he was getting himself into when he decided to run for the job.  

However, unlike the calls for “outrage” against how the president and his supporters are being treated during the health care debate, there has not been as much clear disrespect as there has been towards those that paid the ultimate price  – those caught as “collateral damage” during the debate over the wars in the Middle East. 

Not too long ago, we saw incidents of funerals of America’s heroes – martyrs that did as they were instructed to do in full faith by our military – being infiltrated by protesters against the war.  

People are upset about the rude and disrespectful behavior that we have seen in the media over the past week, but there is nothing more dishonorable than to disrespect the funeral of a young person that gave her or his life, someone trying to defend the best of America and provide a chance for freedom for others.  

I bring this up because the minutia of government does not only come from the bureaucratic steps in place. It comes from the constant demonization that each side politically does to the other without having the short-term memory or compassion to remember their own acts of defiance.  

No plan to promote or oppose the current administration’s directions will prosper without a genuine sense of humility, grace, and perspective. Some of those that cry at the tension today laughed when a shoe was thrown at President Bush. Perhaps they felt justified to disrupt the funeral of a 20-year-old, marching with signs within eyesight of a grieving mother that is still in shock that her child’s body will be buried before her own. 

All that it shows is that we are lost as a nation because we have lost our moral authority.  

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