Bad behavior

There is little that's more disheartening than to walk out of your home and discover that your house or yard or automobile -- or perhaps all three -- have been vandalized. Or to arrive at your business and see graffiti on the walls and windows.

That's exactly what happened to eight members of Congress -- three senators and four representatives, five men and three women, four Democrats and four Republicans -- this week in Missouri and Minnesota. The two Missouri victims were U.S, Sen Claire McCaskill and U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan, both from the St. Louis area. The Minnesota targets were all in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. Authorities say they don't know if the incidents in the two state were connected, although some of the graffiti implied the same message.

There have been other examples of bad behavior on the part of political partisans. All too familiar are the protesters who show up at campaign rallies and attempt to disrupt the proceedings -- but invariably refuse to participate in a face-to-face conversation with candidates.

And some spectators along the Homecoming parade route in Cape Girardeau last Saturday were disgusted by a handful of individuals who threw candy at some of the vehicles in which candidates were riding.

Graffiti, unruly protesters, throwing candy at candidates. These are not the behavior of a civil society. These are displays of weakness and of an unwillingness to work out our differences in order to produce something good.