We hear a number of people saying they can’t wait until the election season ends so we can be spared more negative campaigning.

To be sure, there has been ugliness, misrepresentation, spinning of facts and outright lies. Some office-seekers grab onto a single issue and drag it to death in hopes of convincing somebody they are right and the other person is wrong, often crookedly wrong.

We can assume that, laws being what they are, there is at least a semblance of truth in charges that somebody did this or that, good or bad. Half-truths can be as damaging as lies in some instances, especially when they bombard us constantly in television and newspaper ads.

But old-timers and historians contend that while there has been more negativism in recent years, we have no idea of how dirty and scurrilous campaigns were in earlier days of America. Back in the 1700s when the nation was being born, no holds were barred in tarring opponents, and the laws were so flimsy that little could be done for recompense. Consider the brutal tactics and smears used against major political figures such as Abraham Lincoln, whose stark appearance invited derision from the unprincipled and greedy. We haven’t begun to see the name-calling from those times.

So, sure, there is more mudslinging nowadays than most good people would prefer, and every effort ought to be exerted to get things on a higher and more intelligent plane. But all things considered, what is happening now is relatively mild compared with what we saw in the past.

The main difference is that in those early, early years of the nation, they did not have television, the Internet and efficient print media to spread their nefarious messages. It’s time to end it all not just because some of the campaigning is ugly but because we’re bored, disgusted and fed up with the constant harangues.

Is it a case of the public being more interested and more informed about issues, etc., or is it a case of the candidates doing a better job of discussing and outlining the issues so the public takes greater interest? Or did the media do a better job of encouraging fairer, more complete and more accurate coverage of candidates and campaigns?

The repetition is far more bothersome than most of the messages. If candidates haven’t been able to make their points by now, too bad. What else is there to say? Enough, enough, enough! Tuesday cannot come quickly enough for many among us.