During the presidential campaign of 2008, I sat down to watch the Saddleback Church Civil Forum. The main attraction that night was to watch Senators Barack Obama & John McCain speak on the same stage for the first time. The nation was abuzz! Yet, when Pastor Rick Warren came on stage to kick things off that night… he made a comment that a lot of people didn’t catch. Most Americans, including the press, was focused on his, “cone of silence’ comment. Yet the comment that stood out the most, for me, was this: “Now in America we gotta learn to disagree without demonizing each other. We need to restore civility in our civil discourse”
When I heard this, I just shook my head. Why?
There has NEVER been civility in the American political civil discourse. There has always been the art of political demonization within the American political spectrum.
Those who engage in politics will take on the nature of politics, which is to dominate and to be the victor. Politics is a fight. It has been said that politics is a blood sport and there is no other definition that is more adequate. The fight is not with pillows or feathers but with verbal clinched fists and vocal baseball bats. Politics is about winning not about finding common ground or civility. Any politician who has a soft tone and a gentle demeanor will become road kill on Pennsylvania Ave.
Hasn’t it always been this way?
Thomas Jefferson encouraged his friend James Madison to publicly and politically attack Alexander Hamilton. Jefferson said, “for god’s sake, my dear Sir, take up your pen, select the most striking heresies, and cut him to pieces [sic] in the face of the public” This is the man who wrote the Declaration of Independence!!! Jefferson also used pamphleteer James Callender to politically assault Alexander Hamilton to expose an affair he had with a married woman. Then Mr. Callender switched political teams and then began to attack Thomas Jefferson. His most famous attack was to expose an incident where Jefferson allegedly fathered a child with a young black slave girl named Sally Hemings who was owned by Jefferson.
This is just one example of the political fighting that has raged through the history of our great nation. Every president, every senator, every representative and every political appointee from the birth of America until now has participated in the brutal world of politics.
The Civil War is another example of the vicious nature of politics. The political argument over states rights versus federal rights concerning slavery boiled over from the halls of congress to the green fields of America. In the end, the north and the federal government won the political dispute.
Nowadays we see the likes of Pastor Rick Warren, Senator Harry Reid, President Barack Obama saying that we need a restoring of “civility in our civil discourse.”. How can we have a restoring when it was never there to begin with! Demonizing of the political rival is par for the course.
If civility is put into politics it would be the first time ever in American history, yet to do so is impossible. Why? The nature of politics and the nature of mankind will not allow it. Remember, the core of politics is to win, it is to be victor… it is to rule. Politics is not civil… it is rude and pushy.
We as Americans, people who converse about politics and those who are political need to realize that true politics are cruel. When we realize this we can adequately address the issues, fight it out and then put into practice those things which have won the day. Those who have lost can lick their wounds and seek victory in the years ahead.
So if you are political, don’t be ashamed of being brash or vocal. For those of you who are passionate about your political ideals… be opinionated, be dogmatic. Fight it out! Speak up! Because in so doing, you are being truly political.
