SALLY BARNES

The good book says we should love our neighbours but there is no mention of political candidates. I happen to have a particular admiration for the women and men who aspire to public office and are willing to make the sacrifice of time and effort to go door to door begging for votes and stand on debate platforms praying they won’t make fools of themselves. Volumes have been written about the foibles of election campaigning with whole chapters devoted to vicious dogs, brats wit

I’ve known a lot of angry, glass-half-empty people over my long life and sadly I don’t think many of them lived especially productive or happy lives. There was a time when folks like this were kindly regarded as harmless curmudgeons or eccentrics. Today, as their numbers multiply exponentially, we should consider them downright dangerous. They are quick to lay blame and are easy targets for politicians and other predators offering up bait like hate, retaliation and hanging ou