Without becoming too political, I would just like to make a comment about our well being as a society. The past 30 some years has honed the skills of political attack machines to a fine science.

The goal line has shifted. The two major political parties have separate agendas. Republicans have taken the stance that the ends justifies the means. They spend very little effort telling and or debating the story of their candidate on the issues.

Instead they focus all of thier attention has been described as a tearing down of the other person. Destroy the other candidate and you win by default.

The naive Democrats on the other hand believe in ideals and truths. They often say " Americans are smarter than that and will see right through that" after reviewing a republican attack add that is made up of innuendo and in many cases down right lies.

The truth is that Americans are truly just lazy. Today on the Golf course I met a fellow who said that he was an Obama supporter. His concern was, he said , that Obama did not seem to have an economic plan. I asked him if he had been to the Obama Web Site.

His response was, No. I explained to him that if he took a few moments and looked at the site he would see for himself that all of his concerns were covered in great depth. Yes he did have a computer, but chose to listen to sound bites rather than take the time to research the subject matter on his own.

But I digress. I did not begin this thought process with the intention of writing a post about politics. Instead I want to cover Journalism or the lack there of in the good old USA.

I have in the last several years met many a person from outside our country. Each and every person has pretty much the same impression. They are all shocked about ' American News ' be it TV, Radio, Newspapers or the Internet.  

In fact many people that I have met describe the American news experience as Tabloid back yard Gossip. I have to agree. Long gone are the hard hitting news stories where Pulitzer writing Journalists applied their trade, vetting contributors and chasing down the facts.

Today's news shows are just that. SHOWS. Designed only to provide enough sensationalism as to garner ratings which equals advertising revenues.

In days past news stories without corroboration of the facts, was not published or presented in any fashion. Un-named sources did not hit the airways. Today's news is just the opposite. The star of the show simply asks the questions that they think will be the most controversial and allow the source to answer in any way that they choose. Follow up debunking of the answer is not even a consideration. The closest you will get to that is to allow the other side to respond with their talking points.

Beyond the disservice that this does for our citizens, it serves to validate our acceptance of lies and liars. Not only do we teach our younger generations that lieing is okay we also tell the world that this nation is a nation of liars.

Should we have political candidates that run for office? Yes I think we should. But I also believe that each party should put forth their best candidate and that a vigorous debate on the issues should ensue. The people would then be able to see what each party truly has to offer and we would show the world how true democracy and freedom are played out.

As real estate Brokers and sales people we hold our selves to a high standard. Lies have no place in our careers. Nor should they for normal every day Americans.