Let's try it. For the next six weeks before the election, let's focus on truth and civility. Why? Because it's getting worse. With the campaign season in full swing, the level of our public discourse has hit new lows. From politicians to commentators, I keep hearing the same thing, "We've never seen it get this bad." And some of them are clearly helping to make things worse.

Between July 30 and August 3, a reign of terror was released upon villages in the Congo's eastern mining districts.

Two years ago, as I listened to the escalating rhetoric of hate in the international media, I became haunted by the thought that Christians, Muslims, and Jews are going to blow up the world.