I have a confession to make.

It hit me last night, as I returned from watching my Liberty Flames go down to defeat in football, 27-24. Nonetheless, it was a wonderful evening of tailgating with a couple of my new colleagues and their families, and I got to hang out with my son, who greatly enjoys live sports and is even teaching me a thing or two about how the game of football is played these days.

After I got back to the house and prepared for bed, I decided to check in on my Facebook “public figure” page, which has become the center of my political social network based on sheer numbers and participation. I did the usual scan of updated comments, responded to some of them, and added a couple of items of interest to wrap up the evening.

As I was reading, though, I felt the good feelings of my evening out draining from me, and I reached a point where I simply couldn’t read or respond any more. I went to bed thinking about it, and I woke up much earlier than I wanted this morning because it was still on my mind.

I am tired of the arrogance and condescension of my ideological adversaries, who consider policy disagreement a character flaw or a sign of intellectual poverty, rather than a different worldview with the benefit of historical, evidential and observational merit.

I am tired of people who think my faith forbids me from even expressing my point of view publicly, much less participate in the political process, and that they have the power to suppress my unalienable rights, rights they did not grant to me, because I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.

I am tired of refereeing disputes between people who agree 80 percent of the time, but think that less than 100 percent purity is apostasy and those lesser beings are pond scum, thereby refusing to acknowledge that a demand of absolute fealty leads to an all or nothing outcome, most likely nothing.

In short, I am exhausted by today’s politics.

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My next statement is uncharacteristic of me because, as a former intelligence officer, business executive, homeland security professional and now an associate dean, my hallmark has always been prudence and ensuring my words are measured. But I feel it needs to be said.

I wonder if 2008 is the last peaceful American presidential election I will have witnessed in my lifetime. I find myself asking, “To what lengths will people go to ensure President Obama is reelected?”

Will President Obama step in and calm the waters, and if he doesn’t, does that beg the question of whether or not agitation to the point of violence is the Democrats’ strategy for victory in 2012?

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