To declare the death of civility is, at least at this point, too dramatic and apocalyptic. The time might come, however, in which its death in the American political arena could happen. Thus, President Obama's plea at last week's prayer breakfast for those who believe in prayer to also believe in treating each other in the political arena with at least a degree of civility, respect, and decency.
It is fair to say that, at this moment, civility is asleep. How else can we explain over-the-top allegations that the president is a socialist, or worse, when nothing he has done has even the taint of socialism. His economic steps are either a continuation of Bush policies or investments to stimulate job creation and recovery. How does calling this socialism advance any healthy agenda?
Some conservatives claim that ridiculous charges against Obama are no worse than liberal or left charges against Bush. There is a small measure of truth in that. As much as I disagreed with cutting taxes of the wealthy, especially in war time, the invasion of Iraq, deregulation of environmental safety, and letting Wall Street loose to create its own ruin, I don't remember questioning President Bush's patriotism or good intentions. Others in my party did, however, and carried on ridicule of his military service well after it made any point.
But at its worst, I don't recall any respectable figures on the progressive side suggesting Bush was a fascist, the rough equivalent of Obama's alleged socialism. There will always be those on both extremes who substitute ridicule and attack for constructive criticism. And perhaps human nature is always thus. Historians remind us of other bitter times in American political history when similar or worse behavior went on.
It, nevertheless, is a matter for hope that leaders of both sides and both parties will call out the extremists in their own ranks and disavow their conduct. Probably won't happen, because too many politicians think they need this radical energy bordering on hatred at election time. But miracles do happen and men and women of good will, reaching across the aisle, even occasionally applauding presidential state of the nation speeches out of respect and civility, could reawaken it. Or at the very least, they could create an example of civil leadership for us all.
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The current red/blue opinions and policies are both outdated and ineffective. You cannot spend enough to get out of this mess. You cannot cut taxes enough to get out of this mess. Gay marriage and legal marijuana will not grow the economy. Reverting back to the gold standard and deporting all illegals will not create jobs.
We need leaders to promote real solutions who are beyond identity politics and the red/blue divide.
The tragedy of the Dems is that Obama is so focused on retaining power, he cannot look beyond these divisive dynamics. He wants us to move toward a European model, which is crumbling in Greece. That is not a viable roadmap for us.
The tragedy of the Reps is that they are too focused on the package of Palin, and they cannot see she is an anachronism.
When someone comes up with a plan, that solves problems and doesn't include any payouts, perks or parity for certain identity groups, then we should begin the discussions. Here's one type of roadmap:
http://www.roadmap.republicans.budget.house.gov/
Forget the small stuff of identity politics. It's time to debate the big questions.
Oh my God! Obama is a Bushist! All this time I thought he was a mediocratist or a sameist.
Psychological trauma is recorded in the brain in many areas, perhaps most notably in the hippocampus. There is a word limit here and I don’t want to appear more pompous than usual, but a great deal of our inability to talk openly and rationally about politics is the result of psychological trauma.
Here is a study done by Dr. J. Douglas Bremner at the Departments of Diagnostic Radiology and Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, Yale Psychiatric Institute,
and National Center for PTSD-VA Connecticut Healthcare System on this:
http://www.lawandpsychiatry.com/html/hippocampus.htm
Where do all the children play? Cat Stevens: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjdVOfnYkyA
How long do we allow them to affect the future of our children and our grandchildren before we stand up straighter and fight harder?
Peace & goodnight from Austin.
Of course many of the "leaders" in DC know the socialism/Hitler or whatever charges are BS.
But they want power and they pander to the racism of certain constituents (and in some cases deep within themselves).
It works because they hold a world view where they WANT and HAVE to believe the worst about people of color. They WANT to be lied to. That's why they don't fact check anything Glenn Beck says.
There's a flip side to this as well: This racism shields the Obama administration from other policy criticisms as well because it can all be dismissed as "racism" or "tea bagging".
For a long time people here that started really questioning the Senate Health Insurance Bill (based on what was actually in it) were dismissed as "tea baggers".
By contrast, Obama has barely begun to try to return us to the 'triangulatory' policies of Clinton (themselves hardly admirable, but at least they were beyond question centrist), so calling him a socialist is patently absurd.
It's high time progressives dispensed with the "Let's all just try to get along" view of what's politically correct: that's a large part of how we got where we are today.
This country has not seen respect for a president since LBJ. Carter pretty much got a free ride although that was more of a function of all-things-Nixon.
If the political parties continue to engage in such an ongoing cycle of open malice towards our elected officials it simply cannot end well – someone needs to break this cycle. Senator Hart’s stand is a good first step.