For the next eight months, America will be in a state of schizophrenic insanity.

The difference between the personas are will seem like night and day. Our nation’s leadership will be left with no option but to choose a side to ally with.

The controversy will be heated. Words shared between the two camps will be sharp and critical. Millions upon millions of dollars will be spent in this costly conflict. Certain cars on the highway will be marked with slogans and identifying symbols of loyalty to one side or the other.

The primaries are over. The lines are drawn, the issues are chosen and each side has chosen their champions to fight in the climatic battle this November.

This bitter contest occupies our country’s leadership every four years.

Campaign season 2000 is upon us.

And if you aren’t paying attention, you may never know about this divisive civil eruption.

A PASSION FOR CONFLICT

I can’t help but enjoy this quadrennial display of rhetoric and ideology. I have always enjoyed the challenge that can only be found in a stimulating debate about the issues that shall forever shape our destiny.

Even when I was 4 years old, I eagerly anticipated argument. It’s something that is within me. Perhaps the Lord Himself put the inclination to jump on a certain topic and defend it passionately and thoroughly.

I wasn’t aware of my love for argument until the fourth grade. My teacher (bless her heart) tried so hard to get us kids to listen and perhaps learn something about the English language or the shape of our continent.

Personally, I was looking forward to getting off the bus and rushing to the backyard to play with my toy of choice, Transformers. These were among some of the most ingenious toys ever invented. And I had over 20 of them in my collection. Not only would they transform into cars and trucks, satisfying the urge to play with Hot Wheels, but also they could rearrange into combat-ready figurines, satisfying the urge to play G.I. Joe. There was only one boy in my class who did not enjoy them. Even some of the girls thought they were "cute."

Through involving myself in the life and death struggles of the "Autobots" versus the "Decepticons", my thirst for conflict and resolution was momentarily quenched. For those who didn’t have the privilege of growing-up with Transformers, the Decepticons were viscious, power hungry dictators who couldn’t get along with each other. They had the ability to transform into menacing guns, frightening animals, tape players and futuristic stealth fighter jets. They had two goals: One was to eradicate and torture the benevolent and well-meaning Autobus. The other goal was to conquer the galaxy.

Quite simply, the Decepticons were jerks. Their petty disagreements and tendencies to ruin a good party proved them to be the inferior of the two sides. If they were to somehow take over the galaxy, law and order would fall to the wayside and life on earth would cease to exist. The Autobots were the only hope this galaxy had for freedom.

Such is the romanticism of a young mind. The good guys are holy and can do no wrong. The bad guys are wicked and beyond psychological treatment. There was no compromise in this pretend war. No mercy, and take no prisoners. Destroy!

So there I was in class, daydreaming about the scenario I would put my action figures in after school. Instead of taking notes on geography, I had instead drawn a fascinating and complex map of where my heroes would attack the enemy.

The next thing you know, my teacher had confiscated my elaborate piece of amateur cartography. She explained to the class how I was causing distractions and wasting tax dollars by ignoring the lesson she was presenting. I was humiliated. The girls shook their heads in disgust, while some of the boys gave me gestures of approval and mutual understanding. I got a friendly pat on the back from a boy who picked on me earlier that day.

Teacher became the enemy.

GETTING MY WAY

From that moment on, every minor disagreement became a dividing point. For example, she would pronounce "Caribbean," "cuh-rib-yun". Wanting to get even for the humiliation she caused me, I insisted in front of class that it is supposed to be pronounced "care-ah-bee-yun." Like any good teacher would, she ignored my silly rouse and proceeded to teach.

I pressed on with my crusade to discredit the teacher. Eventually, I had the boys of the class on my side and the girls sided with the teacher. When the class broke into disarray and spit-wad duels, I was taken to the office for a novel little disciplinary procedure called corporal punishment. I got an extra wack for asking who gave him the right to call himself "corporal".

I got home that evening to play with my beloved Transformers. But when I knelt down to set up the stage of conflict, I felt no desire to play. My normal boy-like fascination with fictional warfare could not be channeled. I couldn’t stop thinking about how I had probably hurt my teacher’s feelings deeply, and caused a division on a silly issue like the proper pronunciation of a sea I would probably never visit. I sure couldn’t locate it on a map before she gave the lesson.

The Autobots could wait for a day. My zeal for conflict had left. I couldn’t play with any excitement for weeks.

JUST LIKE CHILDREN

Did my above rant have anything to do with campaign season, or am I wasting more of the Daily’s budget on ink that could be used on printing more advertisements or Dr. Ruth columns? I learned a valuable lesson that day.

Being divisive is never an option. Yes, it is important to take a stand, especially when you know in your heart something is right and worth defending. But how many politicians out there seem bent on arguing just for the sake of arguing?

I received a mailing from the Rudolph Guiliani campaign for U.S. Senate from New York. It was a plea for money. Guiliani is facing a rough campaign against first lady Hilary Clinton this year. Interested, I read the form letter, complete with a gross misspelling of my last name.

No mention of where he stood on the issues. No mention of Clinton’s record in influencing legislation. Not even a mention of the unconstitutional nature of Hilary moving to a State just to run for office! It was a smear campaign designed solely to anger Republican voters nationwide enough to donate money and to discredit our first lady.

Countless other campaigns follow the same tactical method: discredit, anger and conquer. Senator John McCain tried the same thing when he challenged Bush weeks ago for the Republican nod for Presidential candidate.

I didn’t know exactly where the Decepticons stood on issues of galactic policy. I just knew they were jerks, and they had to be conquered. Many voters today feel the same way when they vote Republican or Democrat.

"I didn’t vote for Clinton because he’s a dirty liar," a friend of mine said to me. But he failed to mention where the president stands on health care and United Nations policies.

"I didn’t vote for Bob Dole because he’s old and out-of-touch," another admitted to me. But he did not even use a single brain cell to consider the potential benefits of Dole’s proposal of a 15 percent tax cut.

Prepare for more child-like behavior as November approaches.

WHAT IF I DON’T FEEL LIKE PLAYING?

There are many out there who don’t care for politics, who are just happy going to work and pursuing their hobbies on days off and sleeping in. Similarly, there are children who aren’t inclined to play a game of galactic conquest, but are content kicking a can around or practicing music when they get home from school.

We owe these people the right to enjoy themselves. Some of them don’t vote or pay attention to the issues because of the childish behavior of many of our candidates. Even though I disagree with isolation and naivete, I can’t blame them for being indifferent. After all, who wants to play with the school bully? And who would willingly vote for him?

One thing we all have in common is we are in America. A legacy of freedom belongs to all those who dwell within her borders. A great majority of us enjoy our liberty. There’s a lot to be said for our common heritage. Or similarities outweigh our differences greatly.

Even Republicans and Democrats agree that freedom is important. It’s just a matter of how to go about it for the benefit of the nation.

Life becomes worthless when it’s one of hate and discrimination. Not to say that we should give up our party platforms and sell our nukes to the highest bidder, but we should focus more on loving our fellow human more than we do focussing on discrediting them.

I love a good conflict. I’m of a rare breed. But others aren’t so crazy about partisan warfare. And I will do what I can to respect their right "not to play."

So this election cycle, as Democrats rage their battle to destroy the forces of the Republicans, let’s keep in mind that we are all players in this game called life.

And this will all be over in November. We won’t hear much about politics again until 2002.

I think I’ll go by my old school and apologize to my fourth grade teacher tomorrow.