Vivek Ramaswamy, have you no sense of decency?

One thing for sure about politics these days. Just when you think political rhetoric could sink no lower, some candidate takes things to a new low. This week, the all-time, cringeworthy, I-can’t-believe-he-would-actually-say-that award goes to Ohio Republican gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy.

It didn’t used to be that way. I’ve been a political junkie since 1968, when I first walked through the doors of a campaign office: in San Francisco, for presidential candidate Sen. Eugene McCarthy (D-Minn.).

Two things I learned early on about politics. One, it’s important. It’s about more than winning elections. It’s about deciding what kind of city, state or country we want, what kind of people we are and whom we want to represent us.

Two, even though politics is hardball and not beanbag, there was still some sense of civility. You could disagree with your opponent strongly, but you never lied, never engaged in personal insults, and never attacked members of an opponent’s family.

All that changed, of course, with President Trump, who broke all the rules. He insulted fellow Republican candidates: “Little Marco” Rubio; “Lyin’ Ted” Cruz; “Low Energy” Jeb Bush. He lied about winning the popular vote in 2016. He accused former President Barack Obama of “treason” for “rigging” the 2016 and 2020 elections.

There’s hardly a Democratic or Republican critic of his that Trump hasn’t insulted, ridiculed or lied about. Under his........

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