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I’ve remarked before about the staggeringly high level of uncivil discourse in our country coming from both elected officials and those seeking office. Just when you think it has reached its nadir, they go even lower. Is it the inability to recognize that words have consequences, or the utter disregard for any impact? Television ads speaking ill of one’s primary opponent have now morphed into attacks upon your challenger from the other party, a veritable smorgasbord of accusations and fear-mongering. All of these attacks not only sadden me, but make me think of Psalm 82, the daily Psalm for Tuesdays. A more prescient Psalm could not have been selected 2,000 years ago to describe Election Day and those seeking office. It reads as follows:

God rises in the court of the mighty, pronouncing judgment over the rulers:                                                                              “How long will you pervert justice? How long will you favor the wicked?                                                          Champion the weak and the orphan; uphold the downtrodden and the destitute.                                                                  Rescue the weak and the needy; save them from the grip of the wicked.”                                                            But they neither know nor understand; they wander about in darkness while the earth’s foundations are shaken.                I thought you were Godlike, children of the Most High, but you will die like ordinary mortals; like any prince                will you fall.                                                                                                                                                                           Arise, O God, and judge the earth, for Your dominion is over all nations.

Such brilliance from King David 3,000 years ago, and an uncanny selection for the daily Psalm well before Election Day in the United States was ever established.

I don’t wish to lump together those who rise above the fray, who carry themselves with dignity and remind us that public service has the potential to be a noble calling. Unlike cream rising to the top of the milk, the worst in ourselves rises to the top, demonstrating unacceptable words and deeds. And through the behaviors that they model, they give us permission to be just like them, and that is a big problem.

Since election laws permit the establishment of third-party support organizations, advertisements are created by these groups that do not show the fingerprints of the candidate, but bash the opponent. This is the best we can offer? This is what we are trying to export and convince other nations of the world to adopt? How can they not look at us and shake their heads with a firm “no!”?

Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi was the compiler of the Mishnah, living from approximately 135 to 217 CE, and a leader of the Jewish community in Roman-occupied Judea after the failed Bar Kochba rebellion. He wrote the following: Which is the path of virtue a person should follow? That which brings honor to one’s Maker as well as respect from one’s fellow human beings. How we all long for politicians who might follow this advice.