The mountain pine beetle, an innocuous-looking insect about the size of a grain of rice, is currently killing millions of trees in western North America, from the coast of British Columbia in Canada east to the Dakotas and south to New Mexico in the United States. These tiny pests lay eggs beneath a tree’s bark, which introduces a fungus into the live wood that ultimately prevents the tree from repelling its natural attackers while simultaneously interfering with its ability to transport water and nutrients within itself. Get enough dead trees and you’ve got enough kindling to start a major forest fire; that there have been more than a few out west this summer is certainly no coincidence.

But that’s hardly the only curse affecting Americans these days. Another such infestation can be seen on commercial television and heard on for-profit radio nearly every hour of every day. And as is the case with the pine beetle, the amount of misery this particular scourge is inflicting upon our nation’s citizens, particularly those capable of independent thought, appears limitless.

The negative political ad season is upon us, and seemingly has been for months. One televised attack features blurry photos of a scowling and/or befuddled-looking President Barack Obama flashing across the screen while a grim-sounding female voice recites a litany of grim economic statistics compiled under his watch, subliminally suggesting the stock market crash of 1929 and the depression that followed would be small potatoes compared to the economic apocalypse that would result were the mixed-race, socialist-leaning commander-in-chief with the foreign-sounding name and phony birth certificate to get another four years in office.

Similarly, it’s currently difficult to get through an all-too-frequent commercial break during the 6 o’clock news on any local station without hearing Mitt Romney sing a few off-key bars of “America the Beautiful,” followed by images of the likely Republican presidential nominee looking awkward while a male narrator relates all of his real and imagined shortcomings, suggesting that he knows lots about creating wealth, but nothing about creating jobs. That list of failings is topped by his company’s supposed outsourcing of jobs to foreign countries, an endeavor viewers likely imagine left countless hardworking Americans unemployed. Add a couple of jabs about the former Massachusetts governor’s tax returns, speculation about where overseas he might have stashed some of his hundreds of millions of dollars, and the none-too-subtle implication is Romney’s an entitled, ambitious, out-of-touch tool of the rich who’d undoubtedly lower taxes on the wealthy while raising them for everyone else.

Bombardments of televised exaggerations, embellishments and outright misstatements of fact should be expected, since such scurrilous tactics have proven effective in the past. Recent and not-so-recent history shows Americans have a proclivity for believing whatever they’re told, particularly when it’s recited to them loudly, stridently and repeatedly. And since the Supreme Court’s supremely misguided Citizens United decision in 2010, spiteful millionaires and billionaires motivated by greed and lust for more power can continue flooding the air waves with whatever messages they choose, completely unfettered by such trifles as principles, scruples, and/or the truth, limited only by how much they’re willing to spend. Also, thanks to another statute that Republicans in particular seem actively reluctant to change, they can bankroll such projects anonymously.

Inevitably, the plague that’s soured so many on national politics has arrived on the local scene, and with both major national political parties nearly as concerned with controlling the United States Senate as they are with winning the White House this fall, every electoral vote counts, even Maine’s modest four. As a result, ads belittling independent candidate Angus King, the perceived front-runner for the Senate seat being vacated by Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe, have begun appearing with increased frequency.

Those attacks will undoubtedly continue from both the left and the right, confirming that despite ranking 41st among the 50 United States in population, Maine is on the radar of some big players on the national political scene. But these days that’s hardly worth celebrating.

Until America’s broken electoral system gets fixed, we can expect more divisiveness, polarization and innuendo from those who selfishly put their own interests ahead of those of their fellow citizens, not to mention those of their city, state and nation. What’s even more sobering: With 98 days left until the election, it’s likely no special interest group has even begun rolling out its heavy artillery yet. Both presidential candidates ”“ and any congressional or senatorial hopeful whose election might cause consternation to certain ethically challenged individuals ”“ can expect the sort of fusillade from deep-pocketed dirty tricksters that’ll make the Swift Boaters who savaged John Kerry in 2004 look quaint by comparison.

Will it take another Osama bin Laden-type incident to remind Democrats, Republicans, liberals, conservatives, unions, corporations, pro-lifers and pro-choicers that Americans are all on the same team?

— Andy Young teaches high school English in York County. He hasn’t contributed a cent to any “Super-PAC,” anonymously or otherwise.