How to Choose Civility

By Todd Lassa

Listen to the podcast on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyb4xVPfB1M

What happened to civil political discourse? How did our red-state, blue-state, rural red-urban blue dichotomy get to the point where Democrats refuse to talk to Republicans and Republicans don’t want their kids to marry Democrats? How did the simple act of wearing a mask and taking a vaccine become volatile fuel for left-right firestorms?

It's a complicated problem that seems to be escalating, even in the time since the pro-Trump insurrection on the Capitol more than a year ago. Liberals and Democrats have long blamed what they see as Republican intransigence on Constitutional Originalism and all its offshoots, from the Second Amendment to efforts to overturn Roe v. Wade, while conservatives and Republicans argue the current high level of political acrimony goes back to “political correctness” and culminates in “cancel culture.” 

No wonder the culture wars obliterate any semblance of civility in our political discussion.

The Allegany Chapter of Choose Civility, an organization rooted in Maryland library systems, tackle civility in political discussion in an audio podcast to commemorate its fifth annual Day of Civility, Thursday, April 7. The podcast on YouTube asks, “How can we model and hold others accountable to engage in civil political discourse that helps us to address our shared local and national challenges?” says Elesha Ruminski, professor of communication and leadership studies at Frostburg State University. Ruminski, who is coordinator of the Communication Leadership Lab and member of the Allegany County Choose Civility chapter, moderated the discussion.

Delanie Blubaugh, editor of FSU’s The Bottom Line <thebottomline.news.com> and this editor presented pre-written questions (this is a discussion, not a debate, though you are encouraged to comment for the left or right columns). 

Speakers

See the left column for the background and affiliations of Tim McGrath, Patrick O’Brien and Colin Creagan.

See the right column for the background and affiliations of Tanya Gomer, R.J. Caster and Justin Brick.

Origins of the Acrimony

Tim Magrath: “Caustic political discourse is a relatively recent innovation. I hate to put it on any one person, but I would suggest it’s Newt Gingrich. He succeeded at that.” In 1994, “he told people he was counseling to attack Democrats at that time in very caustic language and he succeeded.” …Gingrich (R-GA) gained 60 House seats in the ’94 midterms and took over the House of Representatives.

“When I started working for Congress there was civility, there were conservative Democrats and liberal Republicans. And they … worked together.” McGrath quotes three-time House Speaker Sam Rayburn (D-TX): “Disagree without being disagreeable. And never make politics personal.”

RJ Caster points to centuries of political violence in America: “Are we more violent now than in the past?” he asked, citing the Alexander Hamilton-Aaron Burr duel, South Carolina Rep. Preston Brooks beating Sen. Charles Sumner of Massachusetts nearly to death with a cane in the Capitol over an argument leading up to the Civil War, and shots fired by Puerto Rican nationalists in the House Gallery in the 1950s. 

On Facts and alternative facts

Tanya Gomer notes that every individual’s reality is colored by background and experience. Hers is informed by 10 years in the military, time spent overseas, her education and law enforcement background. Seemingly counter to this background she recently wrote a grant application for tackling the opioid epidemic that favors funding community services over law enforcement – which many on her side might denounce this as “defunding the police.”

Patrick O’Brien: “We truly have reached a point where we don’t even agree on what reality is. … We don’t even agree the world is not flat.”

How do we fix it?

TG: “We need to take emotion out of politics.”

TM: “The vast majority of people are in the middle. They’re moderates.” Gerrymandering states’ congressional districts for protection of Congress members’ seats, whether Democrats in Maryland this year, or Republicans in Ohio and Pennsylvania protects the hard-left and hard-right instead of moderates who would best represent most American voters. “In competitive congressional districts, it’s the middle that matters, not the fringes. … without competitive congressional districts, I think we’re in trouble.”

RJC: Quoting the late political philosopher, Leo Strauss, “Liberal democracy is built on low, but solid ground. Our unifying factor is based on a set of ideals, enshrined in the Declaration of Independence. … We don’t have a unifying element anymore. We don’t agree on shared values or what’s true and what’s not true.”

American political discourse should take a page from marriage counseling, Caster says. “Get both sides to agree on something bigger than the argument.”

More

There’s much more on the Allegany County Choose Civility podcast. While the discussion won’t fix our political discourse overnight, it’s a start. Join the conversation by emailing your opinions to editors@thehustings.news. Keep your comments civil and tell us in the subject line whether you identify as “left” or “right.”