The freedom to dissent is the lifeblood of democracy, but the two letters on Sept 28, Kelly Keeling's 'War on terror is priority' and Miriam McCaslin's 'Don't be intimidated' represent more of a bloodbath than a lively debate.

Keeling is pro-Bush and displays the self-righteous, narrow-minded, and vicious modes of argumentation that are all too common with the incumbent's supporters. McCaslin is anti-Bush and resorts to ridicule, exaggeration, and hysteria, traits all too common in the opponent's camp.

Were you listening when Sen. John McCain said at the Republican National Convention that above all both sides should remember that we share the same ideals - safety, liberty, and prosperity?

What concerns me more than any issue this election year is that the campaign for the most important public office in the world has been reduced to character assassination, downright lies, and evasion on the grandest scale. This is an omen.

Look, both President George W. Bush and Sen. John Kerry are flip-floppers; they're politicians.

If you don't believe me, turn off the television, keep it off, and read. Read Bush's campaign promises in 2000 about not engaging in nation building. Read Kerry's campaign promises when he chose to oppose Howard Dean's anti-Iraq stance in the Democratic primaries.

This is the nature of the game - the end justifies the means. What is outrageous is that we, the people, buy the spin each and every time.

Dismissing Kerry as having a "pathetic" Senate record and accusing Bush of "prancing around" on the aircraft carrier, declaring mission accomplished, as Keeling and McCaslin do, respectively, represent two sides of the same coin. Neither of these writers can bear to expend the energy to discover that Bush and Kerry are not idiots, are hardly monsters, and have long lists of on-the-job accomplishments.

Both men come from a privileged background that most of us cannot ever fathom, yet both have worked reasonably hard in life. Both have made mistakes, too. And neither is a model Christians, which the teachings of the Scriptures will confirm.

Enough of this shameless slander. Vote the issues.

Where do you stand on abortion, health care, education, job growth, the deficit, taxes, the environment, social security, the drug epidemic, crime, and the dozens of other issues that will have to be dealt with by one of these two men in the next four years?

Bush and Kerry have an opinion on each issue, and you have the power to become aware of those opinions, despite their strategic reluctance to broadcast them on primetime television.

And where do you stand on the War on Terror? Read up, because both of the candidates have professionally-advised foreign policies that deserve your examination before Election Day.