Enough of the noise. It is time to vote. Then drink.

A buddy of mine in Hollywood told me on the phone the other day that the studios all have slap-stick comedies ready for the new year. Their idea is that the nation will be so battered and bruised after November’s election, that we will all need some laughs.

Interesting marketing.  Perhaps true, too. Laughter, after all, is good medicine.

But this week has also found me having to answer some rather harsh letters that right-wing friends of mine have sent out regarding the President and his office.  Friends that I do not want to give up on, but who need a bit of medicine on their won side of the aisle.

Here are some harsh truths for both sides to swallow. Obama isn’t as bad as the pundits make him out to be.  He is a fairly centrist President. Romney isn’t going to be as radically to the right as Dems make him out to be. He’s too smart for that. (Even if his own party can’t see it, the center is from where you rule America.) So both guys could do a reasonably fair job.

You will have your favorite. You will not like the other guy. And that is fine. I, for one, was never wild about Al Gore, but I didn’t trust the W, either. So we have all been here before. You’ve got your fellow selected in your heart and in your brain.

Fine.  Keep it like that.  Just stop with the lies and innuendo about the other guy. For example, white, Christian women are not going to have to sleep with Mormon men if Romney is elected President. None of us will be forced to go to Paraguay to evangelize for the Mormon church. The same is true if Obama gets re-elected. Lubbock is not going to be invaded by the U.N.  And we are not going to give Israel to the jihadist. So can we quit already with the inflaming accusations?

There will be Medicare. There will be Social Security. There will be a tax break (for which Americans it remains to be seen…but a tax break is coming). And there will be rumors of wars, earthquakes and famines. Life will go on.

And get this. There will be national health insurance. Regardless who is President.

Go to the polls and vote for your guy.  It is your duty as an American. And good luck to you. Hope your guy, whichever one he might be, wins.

Then go and have a good laugh. And thank God that you are an American and we can have a “civilized” debate among responsible adults…oh wait…we’re still working on that.  Maybe that’s the first joke we should laugh at in the new year.  Looking back at this process and how terribly dark and silly it became.