I don’t want to hear another campaign speech or debate, not another promise or plan.  I don’t want to hear about the issues that Americans are most concerned about.  I don’t want to know how much money they have raised.  I don’t want to know which states they carried or of those who need to play catch up.  I don’t want to hear anything about cultural demographics, poll numbers or percentage points.

I don’t want to see another map of the U.S.  Breaking it down by the number is breaking me down.  States colored in by the numbers, all we can see is red and blue.  No white flags, no sign of surrender.  No sign that this will slow down until November and that’s not even a guarantee.

First the media and now my mind is saturated with politics.  Everything is in response to the current president.  Jokes and serious commentary, wall- to- wall coverage means I cannot see anything else.  Is there anything else on?  Because the candidates are even in the commercials.  They are everywhere and on every square inch of the screen.

I give up the television, my IPad and cellphone.  I want to turn it all off.  I need to ward off this bad energy, these bad vibes.  This is a bad sign, an omen.  This is scary.

We believe that we cast out demons by casting ballots.  Heaven is on the line and hell is on the way if we don’t get in line, tow our party line.  It’s Armageddon, the last days and this may be the last time to get it right.  And we have it right that they are all wrong.  All of them are all wrong and what’s wrong with America.

We’ve got to get rid of them.

They tell me to stay engaged but I just have to look away.  I’ve seen and heard enough.  Head in the sand.  Face in the dirt.

It can’t be worse than this feeling that is not fleeting, that is not going to simply go away.  We’ve had more than forty days of this.  Going back and forth, us versus them and them and them and them.  And you too.

Who are these two?

Back up against the wall, we are keeping out ourselves.  We can’t trust anyone— not even members of our own family.  Whose side are you on?  Democrat or Republican?  This can be the end of the conversation.

The answer can end relationships.  We don’t talk religion or politics because they are one in the same.  Faith in one makes you a believer and in the other a heathen.  Goat and lamb exchange for donkey and elephant.  It’s a different story now and a different savior.

President of the United States, it is.

I really don’t want to hear another word of this.  I’ve had enough, filled to the brim with the endless buffet of news and its cycles, which explains the circles under my eyes.  I simply do not have any more room for another lie or scandal, misstep or staff change, taunt or nickname.  I have don’t have any more time for their specials and his breaking news.  I’m stuffed and yet it is eating me up.

Soon there will be nothing of our selves left.  Because everything is political.  It is all we care about, which is not to be confused with the common good.  No, we are well past that now, replaced with the Democratic and Republican States of America.  There is no telling when we will ever come together.

This time, we might have gone too far.  No, not to the left or to the right.

This is not the way of Christ.  This does not prepare the way of the Lord.  Still, we will crucify each other to get the most hands raised and for what?  For four years of power, only for it to be up for grabs again.

No, I give up American politics for Lent and if this divisiveness continues, maybe longer.