The Presidential or congressional election of 2008 in the US reminded us of this ugly truth more than once. Rather than showing respect to American voters by engaging them in intelligent debates about real issues such as economy, health care, education reform, Iraq war and the menace of terrorism, those contesting for various offices tried to rekindle the flame of hatred that we often tend to extinguish through our own consciousness.

They told us that Obama should not be elected because his middle name is Muslim or Arab sounding. (By the way, Hussein is an Arab name that many pre-Islam Arabs used to give to their children. Names such as David, Moses, Job, John, Rebbecca, Sara, Abraham, Isac, Jacob are more Islamic as they are mentioned in the scriptures of Islam.) They told us that we must reject the Democratic nominee because he once sat with a Palestinian professor who has different perspectives on the solution of the Middle East crisis. They told us that the first African-American candidate for the presidency of the United States is a socialist or Marxist and he would redistribute the wealth of the rich among the poor. They told us that Barak born to a Kenyan father and an American mother was not an American. One has to admit that much of this was directed against Obama as the Democratic campaign was generally non combative on personal issues.

The Republican Party showed its ugly face to America by indulging in a systematic campaign of character assassination.

Why is it that a party that quotes the Bible in defense of its policies and politics has fallen to such a low level of campaigning? There are a few harsh realities that we have to accept if we really want to make any sense of what has happened during the election.

A good number of Republicans have refused to acknowledge the changes in American demographics as they still believe in the supremacy of white race. They still believe that this country is primarily for the "White race". Since racism has become a slur, it is difficult for these Republicans to use the race card openly. They dabbled around terms to serve their purpose. When they said that Barak was an Arab or a Muslim, they were in fact saying that he is black and hence unelectable. This is a fact that we should not shy away from saying it openly. The GOP still has a substantial number of people who live in the old world of black and white segregation.

This can be understood from one of the conversations that I heard in a restaurant in Las Vegas. On the table next to mine, two white men were chatting about the election and one of them said, "We will never accept a black man as our president." He further added, "The good thing is that there is a white man, Joe Biden is on the Democratic ticket and after Obama's demise, he would become the President." This sums up the attitude of many in the GOP who are still living in the old world.

If the GOP wants to emerge as a true national party in the changing circumstances, it has to fight within its ranks those who promote racial and religious bigotry.

Substantial support to GOP comes from conservative Christians who want the state to implement their biblical agenda. They focus on a few items, abortion, creation, and same sex marriages. They are least concerned about poverty, exploitation, or human life of non-Americans as a majority of them want to turn the entire Middle East in an inferno so that Jesus can return. They control the Sunday pulpit and are in a position to incite people against anyone. Their sermons are more bigoted than Jeremiah Wright's in terms of describing non-Christians including Muslims or Buddhists. Usually, these sermons go unreported.

The North Carolina senatorial election illustrates the point of religious bigotry on the party of the GOP candidate when she described her opponent as a Godless person. Her message was not different than what one hears in many churches that those who are not Christians cannot be patriotic to this country.

In one of the forums at a prestigious university, one of the pastors speaking on faith and election asserted that, "only those who believe on Judeo-Christian traditions" can relate with the constitution and show their respect to it.

The rightwing of the GOP invokes the Judeo-Christian heritage to support it's doctrine of marginalizing Arabs and Muslims. It is ironic that Jews reject Jesus as the Messiah and Christian declare Jews as opponents to the Christ, there is hardly anything that can be described as Judeo-Christian. In fact the term was never used by any Christian or Jewish religious leader in the last 2,000 years of their bitter conflict. Only in the mid of the 20th century, a US president first used this term to make a political statement. Unless the GOP recognizes that America is a land of multi-religious communities, each with a right to live with dignity, the GOP would find it hard to attract Americans of other faiths and persuasion.

The recent economic crisis is built on the failed policy of Bush doctrine that believes in disastrous practices with full license of freedom to big businesses.

If one prepares a list of people who really profited from the war and the Bush fiscal policies, one can easily identify big businesses that have been supportive of the GOP.

While the nation was struggling with pumping gas into cars within the depleting family budget, these big businesses were collecting billions of dollars in profits. None of them even bothered to go beyond the doctrine of supply and demand and profiteering, creating conditions for fellow Americans that were unbearable.

GOP in its present form appears to be less compassionate and more focused on helping the big businesses. Certainly, in a global economy, the old rules of game will not work.

GOP's wealthy supporters have to realize that labor should have its appropriate reward otherwise capital would itself lose the value.

The GOP is devoid of any fresh ideas. Thus, it took refuge in the politics of character assassination and personal attack proving the point that political expediency is what dictates the conscious of certain people and not the ideals for which parties are created.