The November elections cannot come fast enough. I haven’t heard the word liar so many times since the TV ads of the last election season.

And this year they’re tossing around the word socialist as if it is a communicable disease, along with the more mundane accusations of theft, misappropriation, and other misdeeds.

I don’t know if these candidates are socialists or not. I don’t even know what their opponents mean when they use the word socialist.

I grew up in a pretty liberal household, where it was common to think about the benefits of living in a social democracy. Which is not the same as socialism.

In a properly functioning social democracy, we take care of each other. The community provides welfare programs to alleviate poverty, Head Start programs to help ensure that good education is available to all, and other essential social services.

I heartily approve of all of that. I think spending money to help one another is a great use of my tax dollars.

But as a national community, we have spent decades cutting back on support for these programs. Increasingly, the responsibility has fallen on the shoulders of the nonprofit community.

None of the ads I’ve seen talk about these issues. Instead, the candidates seem most interested in mocking one another and denigrating politicians in general.

My father considered politics a noble profession. But when he lost his very first race, for city council in New Rochelle, New York, my mother said it was the best thing that ever happened to them. He never ran for public office again, much to her relief.

Instead, he served the community in other ways.

At the end of his life, the funeral hall was filled with admirers from all walks of life. People who didn’t know each other. People his family didn’t know. But people whose lives he had touched.

The example of his life guides me now, just as it guides both of my siblings. I hope that his vision of a social democracy is what drives the so-called socialist candidates of today.

As a Jew, a rabbi, and Fred Glassberg’s daughter, I approve.