Politics are a reflection of our downward societal spiral

I read with interest Mrs. Greene’s July 17 “Gem Box” column asking the question if politics brings out the worst in people or the real in them? While I can’t directly answer that, I can offer my opinion and experience. This is based upon having attended local county commission meetings/workshops for 11 years and then in 2022 running for local office (and not having said anything negative about my opponent, in fact referring to him as a good Christian man), politics to some extent locally and very much at the national level are a reflection of our society’s downward spiral. On the national scene, you have name calling as standard operational procedure- Mr. Biden called Mr. Trump a l