I always knew that politics was a dirty game, but I didn’t know that running for Congress would be like running into a nest of angry hornets. When I decided to do this, I told my readers that I would keep them updated on what I am learning, and one of the things that I am learning is that people can be really mean. So far, every cuss word in the book has been thrown at me, I have been told that I should leave the state, and people have even been saying absolutely horrible things about my wife and daughter. I am tough and can take the abuse, but it isn’t right to attack family.

Many of the attacks are not fit for public consumption, so in this article I just want to share some of the milder attacks that are more focused on the issues.

I knew that my extremely strong Pro-Life stand was going to upset a lot of people, and that is definitely turning out to be the case. Here is one example from Facebook…

If we ban abortion, women and children are not going to be dying in the street, and that certainly wasn’t the case before abortion was legalized in 1973 either.

Another issue that many have brought up is Obamacare. I believe that it should be fully repealed, and obviously those on the left are not going to agree with that. The following was sent to me by email…

“Sure, go ahead and repeal the Affordable Care Act, just as soon as you can come up with an economically and ethically viable alternative. The fact that Republicans have had 7 years to come up with a plan, and six months to pass it, and have completely failed is not only and embarrassment to the party, it’s a testament to their inability to govern.”

I will admit that the Republicans in Congress have completely fumbled the football when it comes to health care, and hopefully they can get their act together soon.

Some of the attacks from the left have actually made me smile. I had one leftist make a gift to the ACLU in my name, and I could at least appreciate his sense of humor.

Other attacks have left me scratching my head. On The Economic Collapse Blog, one of my readers left a comment criticizing me for being too much like Ron Paul…

“Many of your positions are laudable and good, but your views regarding the Federal Reserve are way off the mark and you need to think those through with an understanding as what the Federal Reserve is and is not. The very same is true regarding the IRS as NOBODY is going to vote for defunding the US government which desperately needs MORE FUNDING (or massive spending cuts) not less. Your views on those issues like Ron Paul would DESTROY THE US ECONOMY nearly overnight and have ZERO CHANCE of getting any voter instance at all and are the key reasons why Ron Paul got practically no voter support at all.”

Actually Ron Paul kept his House seat in Texas in election after election, and when he ran for president he became one of the most popular politicians in the entire country.

And abolishing the Fed is actually part of the Idaho GOP platform, so obviously a lot of Republicans up here think that it is a really good idea.

More than anything else, it is my faith that has been the subject of the most attacks up to this point. Here is one example from an email that I received…

“Was this nation founded by Bible-believing Christians? For the most part, yes. At the very least they believed in a higher power. However, your claim that “the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were birthed out of the values and principles found in the Word of God” is false. If American and Biblical values are one in the same, what’s the need for a Constitution? You think God supports freedom of religion, free speech, the democratic process, or has a problem with cruel and unusual punishment? I fully support your right to lead your personal life according to whatever religious beliefs you might hold; you do not have the right to enforce those beliefs on the populace as a whole through the government. That would be a theocracy, and that practice is unquestionably not in line with American values.”

And that same individual saved his greatest vitriol for President Trump…

“Then the Electoral College put Donald Trump in office. A complete political neophyte. An undeniable narcissist. A liar. A thug. A serial sexual predator and misogynist. They elected a person who sees his own daughter as a sexual object. A person who upon meeting a 10 year old girl immediately thinks about how long it will be until he can have sex with her. Someone who openly admits that he hasn’t matured emotionally since the age of 6. Someone so delusional that he admits under oath that he estimates his net worth based upon how he feels that day. A person that expresses his desire to physically assault people who speak out against him. He stated during the campaign that he would rarely leave the White House, but he’s spent 1/3 of his time in office at his properties, usually a golf course, and not in the White House. He dismisses any claims of having a conflict of interest between his personal businesses and his elected position, but the membership fees have gone up at his properties since his election and he implies that foreign governments will get favorable treatment if they stay at his hotels. You want the president to be a moral compass for this country, yet he’s been married 3 times and has cheated on all of them. Religious hucksters claim that Trump is a great Christian, but Trump himself admits that he has never asked forgiveness for anything.”

This shows why fake news is such a problem. This particular individual believes a whole bunch of things about Trump that are simply not true, but they are passed around by leftists as if they are facts.

Like I said, in this article I have shared with you some of the milder attacks. But before I end this article, I want to share with you an excerpt from an attack that was sent to me by email that was of a particularly nasty nature. I have censored out the cuss words, but even so I still cringe when I read it…

“By the way, I just found out that you and your **** wife have a little **** brat. To be honest, you’re a **** Trump supporting tool who believes all his ****. I wish you and your damn family pain, suffering, and a miserable life. In conclusion, **** you, **** your **** wife, **** your **** daughter, and most importantly, **** Donald Trump and Melania “Tramp”. Furthermore, **** America and **** all your fake attempts to save it.”

This is what it is like to run for office guys.

In my new book I talk a lot about forgiveness, and of course I forgive everyone that has said horrible things about me and my family.

But I also hope that politics in America can be cleaned up, because right now a lot of good men and women are afraid to run for office because of all the nonsense.

I will continue to share what I am learning with you guys as I go through this process. So far, it has been a very, very eye-opening experience.

Michael Snyder is a Republican candidate for Congress in Idaho’s First Congressional District, and you can learn how you can get involved in the campaign on his official website. His new book entitled “Living A Life That Really Matters” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.