I am always somewhat amused when it comes to the election season in this great land of ours … especially this year. There are many reasons for this, but for me personally, I am always intrigued when Americans seem to think that one individual will change all of the social, economic, political, ecological, and yes, even military challenges that face our nation and the world.

Now, voters will never really come out and say that this is what they expect, but it sure seems to me that this is what they are asking. It’s an impossible and unrealistic expectation in my humble opinion. We have a two-party system in this nation. You have more choices when you purchase a pair of jeans. We have two political parties in this country and both of these parties, are beholden to corporations, and are supposed to somehow satisfy all of the needs of the people of this nation (and if you believe in the myth of “American Exceptionalism,” the entire globe). “Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished,” to quote a phrase from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark.

Be that as it may, many of us get so caught up in the passion of the politics of the day, that instead of focusing on what is right, we argue over who is right. We can all respectfully disagree as human beings, can’t we? I’d like to think so. As a member of the Unitarian Universalist clergy, I am reminded every day that we don’t all have to think alike to love alike. There is an inherent worth and dignity in each and every human being. Let’s not lose sight of this as citizens of this nation and as citizens of the earth.

As Universalist Minister Hosea Ballou so insightfully phrased it: “If we agree in love, there is no disagreement that can do us any harm, but if we do not, no other agreement can do us any good.”

Reverend Carter is minister of the Swannanoa Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Black Mountain where he speaks twice a month. He is also a regular speaker at the Thermal Belt UU Fellowship in Tryon.

-Submitted by Phil Nungesser