Perhaps I'm being too idealistic. Perhaps I've watched too many reruns of "The West Wing." As we head to perhaps the most important Election Day of my lifetime on Tuesday, I wish we'd all spent more time pressing the candidates to answer the hard questions about how they'll lead this country.

I wish we'd spent less time with over-the-top rhetoric and sleazy ads that fail to speak to the important issues of a candidate's policy beliefs, his experiences, his character.

Instead we have politicians who apparently can't say anything good about themselves or their positions, so they resort to attacking their opponents with every little tidbit they can find, whether it's true or not. And it's not just the politicians. It's all of us, the media and public included.

This, sadly, is what passes for political discourse in our country today. If I disagree with you, you are more than just wrong. You are stupid. And worse, you are evil.

It's amazing the number of Americans who say they espouse the very freedoms this country cherishes, yet they seek to silence those with whom they disagree.

So why all the hate?

Why can't we both celebrate the diversity of opinions that is at the very heart of what makes America great and still fight for what we believe?

Jesus said we should love thy neighbor as thyself. There's a period at the end of that sentence. There's no qualifying clause that says unless he's black. Unless he's gay. Unless he's a Republican. Unless he's a Democrat.

This is not to suggest that we shouldn't disagree with one another. Just the opposite, in fact. One of our most fundamental rights as Americans - and, it can be argued, our most important right - is the right to stand in opposition to the government, and thus, to each other.

Partisan politics is what the Founding Fathers had in mind all along. It guarantees that the minority viewpoint is heard. And it bears reminding that the Founding Fathers were a collection of men who had a diversity of strong opinion. There were many differing ideas present in that room from which the Constitution emerged.

I understand having strong objections to the ideas expressed by certain politicians. I understanding standing and fighting against some idea, some policy you think is wrong for America. It is, in fact, a patriotic thing to do.

What doesn't make sense is demonizing the person who expresses the idea.

So why all the hate?

Why do we rush to shout down and demonize those who disagree with us? Kathleen Parker, the talented conservative columnist whose work appears on our editorial page twice a week, recently wrote a column in which she expressed her opinion that a certain vice presidential candidate wasn't qualified for the post. She got death threats. Think about that for a minute. Death threats for expressing her opinion.

To be sure, you can disagree with that viewpoint, as many Americans do, and there are many ways you can express that opposition. But death threats?

I admit it. I'm a dinosaur in this age of talk radio and irresponsible blogging and in-your-face TV commentators of both political persuasions. I actually enjoy reading thoughtful commentary that disagrees with my point of view. By reading someone else's opinion on an issue, I often learn something. I get a new perspective that helps shed light on my own beliefs.

It seldom, if ever, changes my mind about an issue, however. Mostly, it helps reinforce why I believe what I believe.

So why all the hate?

Bill Clinton once said, "There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America." This is a country that comes together in times of crisis, when hurricanes ravage our coastal cities, when terrorists attack our way of life. We step up when there's a time of need like no other country on the planet.

It's the rest of the time, when there's no national crisis, where we backslide. And it's not just in the political arena. We've lost our sense of civility, and we desperately need to get it back.

We need to follow the sage advice of my mother, who has told me my whole life, "If you can't say something nice about someone, don't say anything at all."

So I ask again: Why all the hate?

Mitch Clarke is executive editor of The Times. His column appears Sundays in The Times and on gainesvilletimes.com. Originally published Nov. 2, 2008.