It was a little, incongruous shall we say, for the country’s two-term vice president, Joe Biden, to say, as he did at a rally this past weekend, “It’s time to take America back!”

From whom, exactly? He and his running mate have been in power since 2009. Their party also held sway over both houses of Congress for the first two years, and it still controls the powerful Senate.

How utterly bizarre for even a gaffe-prone sitting vice president to succumb to this kind of miscue, exhorting others to “take America back” when he already, essentially, “has” it. But such are the verbal cul-de-sacs we get into when venturing into divisive rhetoric.

Alas, this kind of fire-breathing has come to be expected in the political silly season, which officially kicks off with the relative peace of Labor Day. Is there any escaping it?

One would hope so, for it is precisely this kind of circular firing squad that has America in the doldrums.

Most Americans, we would guess, are dog tired of the various political factions shooting at each other rhetorically, assassinating each other’s character and otherwise completely ignoring the country’s problems and letting them fester and ooze.

We need to do something radical in the Information Age: We need to inform ourselves. We need to decide what we believe. And we need to take action. Support your preferred candidates. Discuss the issues civilly with friends. Keep up on current events. And, of course, cast a knowledgeable vote.

Don’t take the country back. Just recognize it’s there for you — even if you haven’t been there for it.

— The Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle,

Sept. 2