There is a scene in the 2006 Broadway play "The Lieutenant of Inishmore" where two characters are hacking up corpses to render them unrecognizable.  The stage is strewn with dismembered body parts and totally spattered with blood.  One of the characters screams in desperation and despair, "Will this never end!?" This strikes me as an appropriate metaphor for our current presidential election campaign.  Not only does it seem like it will never end, we have also hacked decency, honesty and civility in political discourse beyond recognition. Outright lying has become the norm for both parties with Romney-Ryan holding a significant edge in that department (see last week’s Time cover story).  We all know that candidates’ promises are basically meaningless since they serve only to get elected not as a basis for actual policy making.  This is where I have my biggest problem with Romney.  He keeps saying “I know how to…”  He makes all these assertions that he can fix everything then offers the same “solutions” Republicans have been spouting for years: lower taxes, less regulation, cut spending, all of which will suddenly create jobs and lower the deficit.  They haven’t and they won’t.   Regarding Obama, the Republicans will never admit that they have been a big part of the problem for the last four years.  Yes, Bush and company actually did create the mess, but they won’t admit it. The day Obama took office they swore they would not cooperate with his Administration which has been the major reason our government doesn’t get anything done.  These are facts.  But Republicans have a way of dealing with real facts. Take a drop in unemployment, they just pull a Jack Welch and say Obama’s government falsified them.  Even some prominent Republicans balked at that, so maybe there is hope.  But I doubt it.