By James Thompson

Could we just exhale for a minute? This electoral cycle has bordered on unleashed barbarism. Insults are flying from both major party candidates for president. The level of depravity of the candidates is unprecedented.

Hillary Clinton, who routinely bashes President Vladimir Putin of Russia and has made this a cornerstone of her campaign, has now painted with a broad brush half of Donald Trump’s supporters as deplorable and irredeemable.

Unless we want a rapid descent into vicious fascism, we should define our terms and understand the implications of what our potential leaders are saying.

First of all, no human being is deplorable. The ideology and behavior of some human beings is deplorable. When a potential leader condemns millions of people, this is highly regrettable. Indeed, some might say that this behavior is deplorable.

Nevertheless, former Secretary of State Clinton seems to have struck a chord and may raise the awareness of the sleeping masses. There is a sizable sector of the people of the US who hold deplorable views and engage in deplorable behavior. She is right, racism, sexism, misogyny, homophobia, xenophobia, Islamophobia are deplorable attitudes stemming from deplorable ideology. Nazism, Fascism, imperialism are all deplorable ideologies. The exploitation of the poor by the rich is deplorable. Police murders of innocent people is deplorable. Chauvinism in all its forms is deplorable. War whose purpose is to increase profits and/or expand global domination is deplorable. It is deplorable when children are denied the basic right to education. It is deplorable when people are denied the basic rights to housing, jobs, healthcare, education and food. It was deplorable when the Nazis slaughtered millions. It was deplorable when the United States dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It has been deplorable every time the United States manipulated and started wars in foreign countries to increase US global domination. It was deplorable when the US bourgeoisie supported and financed the rise of fascism in Germany. It was deplorable when the US committed genocide against African-Americans, and Native Americans. It was deplorable when Japanese Americans were put in concentration camps. It was deplorable when the Nazis put trade unionists, socialists, communists, Catholics and Jews in concentration camps and slaughtered them or worked them to death. The blockade against Cuba and the Helms-Burton act are deplorable.

There is a great need for scientific research in this country to study the views and opinions of people. Proper opinion polls should be conducted to determine the percentage of the population that hold these negative views such as racism, sexism, misogyny, homophobia, xenophobia, Islamophobia, etc.

There should also be a massive effort to educate that portion of the population who hold negative views. There should also be a massive effort to combat hate speech and hate crimes through the criminal justice system.