Oh yeah, religion is definitely more politicized than ever. That's the preferred poison for the last decade plus.

But it's always been nasty. Back in the day there was Hoover with his files. And later there was Nixon, what Bush Sr. did to Dukakis and even to Bob Dole, the savaging of the Clintons, etc. You can crack open the history books and trace it all the way back to the "founding fathers", back biting, character assassinations, lies, you name it.

Sleaze and slime.

I came here in 83, and Reagan was in charge. Iran-Contra was in full force ... pretty messed up ...

What I've learned over the years is that, in the US, the government does not influence 'life in general' anywhere near as much as it does in the UK, so - in all honesty - it matters much less who gets in power. I guess this is a testament to 'small government' (speaking relatively, comparing US to UK) in some ways.

I'm not saying I'm not appalled at the current Republican attempt to stop any progress by Obama, but what I am saying is, it's just not as important as it was back in UK (I left when Maggie was duking it out with the unions, and we had sweeping power cuts and bus strikes every day ... THAT was affecting day-to-day life in a big way).