The radio alarm woke me this morning to a political commercial. It accused an incumbent assembly person of being a millionaire. Paid for by the republican party. Does this mean the republican party is against millionaires? That would thin out their current selections quite well. Good riddance Meg Whitman.

I am disgusted by the political campaigns this year. If I didn't dislike the tea party influenced republican choices as much as I do, I don't know if I'd want to vote for the democrats either.

Meg and Jerry are doing a great job of trashing each other. For those of you fortunate enough to not be in California right now, you're missing one annoying and expensive campaign. Meg ridicules Jerry, finds the worst pictures of him, makes him look old. Jerry retaliates with commercials where Meg's nose grows and she looks dumb. We're talking quality trouncing here. And Boxer vs Fiorina is not much better, just less money to overdo it with.

I sell on eBay, so I'm really aware what a corporate minded person Whitman is. Under her leadership, eBay became a monolith that proved time and again it does not care for, in fact is disgusted by, the sellers. Do you remember Meg's announcement they were going to get a group health insurance plan for the power sellers? That quietly fell through. But she looked good for trying, right?

But, by now I am not really excited by Brown either. I am so disappointed by his ads. I know, she started it. She ate her Republican primary opponent Steve Poizner for breakfast with her campaign ads, and jumped right in against Brown. With a zillion times more money then him. But I was hoping my democrat candidate would rise above that, and stick to getting his message across. Instead, he's just pulverizing back.

I hear of this kind of thing happening elsewhere. Last night I read of the shameful ad in Nevada urging the Latino population to not vote. Funded by a Republican group, Latinos For Reform, it's an obvious ploy against Harry Reid, as it's pretty much a given he'll be the favorite by a large margin with Latinos in Nevada.

I am ashamed of our elective process this year. It has deteriorated into gorilla warfare. There is no integrity in the California governors race. I'm going to miss Arnold. Really.

Somehow, I'm guessing a lot of republicans feel the same. Even though they may not be fully behind their parties choices, they'll vote for them since the other side didn't offer the better choice of substance and integrity that it could have. No matter the outcome in this years California governors race, I think we've all lost already.

The current political climate is inflammation, polarization and fear. A hyperbolic free for all that's distracting from the real issue. We're in trouble and might not make it. Now, I think the Bush years put us in this place, and want to see the democrats get a couple more years to try and fix this mess. And as much as I don't like Bush, I don't think it's all his fault. I'd really like to see us stop drawing lines and spitting at each other. If we don't start working together a little more, then I fear for where we are going. And we need to discuss the issues, intelligently and respectfully.

That's not what I'm seeing in these ads. I see disrespect run out of control. And it teaches us to disrespect each other. And the more we're driven down that road, we veer off course into some land of disrepair I fear we won't be able to make it back from.

I still think this is a country worth fighting for. That does not mean we're supposed to fight this way with each other. We need to stop being each others enemies. At this point, I'm not even sure how we can tell our politicians to clean up their act. I'm guessing most people are tired of this kind of campaigning.

Obama and McCain kept things pretty respectful and clean, and look how people turned out for them. Though I didn't agree with McCain on a lot of things, and was saddened by his choice of Palin, I still respect him, and admire him as a great American. I really felt like we had a choice in that election. Now I just feel like I have a gun to my head, and I have to do something I don't really want to do to.

Maybe there's a truth in those awful ads urging people to not vote, but I refuse to go there. Part of the integrity of being an American is exercising the sacred right to vote and help decide our countries future. This is a country of participation. The responsibility of democracy lies with every one of us.

Not to get all religious on everyone, and I say this in the most all encompassing whatever you believe kind of way, but God help us all. We need it very much right now.

Kevin Army

Yserba's disgruntled ghostwriter