With the presidential election right around the corner, there’s one thing conspicuously and thankfully absent from the general discourse.Am I talking about horse-race media coverage? No. Do I mean pointless, demeaning negative ads? I wish. I’m talking, of course, about the abortion debate.Please don’t stop reading this article. I know it’s tempting because at this point the issue has been talked to death, brought back to Frankensteinian life and then killed again endlessly. The abortion debate is easily the most divisive and polarized issue in American life today. It evokes the strongest responses, attracts the most fanatical followers and raises the most intense emotions. And why shouldn’t it? To some, restricting abortion is restricting murder, while to others, it’s restricting a woman’s rights. Add a dash of good old-fashioned fundamentalism, and you have yourself a recipe for an ideological clash of unprecedented potential.So don’t worry, I’m not going to try to change anybody’s mind on this issue. I’m not even going to tell you what my view on the subject is. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for public discourse, but abortion is simply too volatile a subject for all but the most open-minded, mutually respectful people to even remotely discuss in any meaningful fashion. The only thing I can say regarding abortion is it shouldn’t be anybody’s only issue.Whichever candidate wins this election is going to inherit a nation that faces unprecedented challenges. From the recent economic crisis to the threat of a nuclear Iran, from an impending energy crisis to a collapsing social security and welfare system, our nation faces an election with higher stakes than any current college student has seen.These problems require intelligent, qualified leadership, but most importantly, they require focus. We can’t realistically rebuild our economy, fix the mess in Iraq, or make it out of collective national oil rehab if we’re too busy arguing about abortion.If you whole-heartedly believe that abortion is murder, that is every bit your right. But people are still dying in Iraq, and our whole world is suffering from an economic slowdown.If you firmly believe a woman has a right to choose to have an abortion, that is also every bit your right. But the United States is still essentially a super-powered, fossil-fuel addict, and our oil dealers aren’t exactly the most savory of nations.Is it possible for a pro-life citizen to vote for a pro-choice candidate? Absolutely.                       America can no longer afford to remain as divided as we have been, to sit on either side of a barren ideological no-man’s land and snipe at each other. At the risk of sounding too idealistic, if we’re going to move beyond our current situation we’re going to have put aside those things that divide us so that we can collectively remedy the ills afflicting us.And nothing divides America more than the abortion debate. So let’s keep it out for the time being.Unity is something we’ve heard both candidates talk about constantly and for good reason. Even if you think pro-choice candidates are murderers, or you think pro-life candidates are fascists, for the love of America, stomach it and help us unite the nation. Sometimes Roosevelt and Churchill had to cooperate with Stalin to defeat Hitler. Sometimes Spider-Man has to team up with Venom to defeat Carnage. And if we are to push our nation out of these darkening times, pro-life and pro-choice people are  going to have to learn to live with each other at least until they can slug it out at a future time when we’re not faced with the challenges we are today.—-Contact Matthew Albright at [email protected]