Incivil Discourse

The events of yesterday have highlighted just how poisonous our political landscape has become. Once the initial shock of the events wore off, a lot of people started to reflect on what happened and why. Katherine Kersten (the Strib's much maligned token conservative columnist) has a post up this morning that really hits what I think is the heart of the problem.

In decades past, Americans often disagreed strongly with their political leaders, but they did so in civil debate.

Today, a new coarseness permeates our public life. We no longer view our political opponents as merely wrong or misguided — now they’re “liars.” Radio talk shows and blogs spew invective at political leaders, while the parties themselves scheme to “criminalize” the public policy actions of their opponents...

Don’t get me wrong – it’s crucial to hold political leaders to a high standard. It’s imperative to point out their foibles, and to disagree with what we view as misguided policies. But the coarse, bitter and hyperbolic tone of today’s political arena poses a real threat to our common life as democratic citizens.

No one side has the market cornered when it comes to this incivility. It runs across the board. Just take a look at what is going on with lawn signs being stolen and defaced in your neighborhood.

Some think that there could be a backlash come November 4.

Democrats have a lot going for them when it comes to the tide of politics right now, but could images like these have a backlash? The vandalism early seemed to hitting mostly Republicans (yes, we now know that Ellison and Klobuchar were hit too). I don't take a lot a strong opinions here, but everyone can agree there is no place for vandalism. If these images get a lot of attention especially on the Republican side, I wonder if this could evolve into something like the Rick Kahn comments at Wellstone's memorial.

For those who don't remember (or weren't in MN in 2002), Norm Coleman was locked in a very tight race for the Senate seat he holds today with incumbent Paul Wellstone. Eleven days before the election, Senator Wellstone died when the plane he was taking to a debate in Duluth crashed outside of Eveleth MN. Because Senator Wellstone was so well respected by everyone in Minnesota (this staunch conservative could not contain the tears that day) the entire state went into mourning. Then on October 29, the dynamic changed. On October 29, a memorial service for Senator Wellstone turned into a partisan political rally. Sen. Wellstone's Republican colleagues, who had come to pay their respects to a man of great character, were loudly boo'd by the crowd as they arrived. It culminated in the remarks of Wellstone family friend and campaign worker Rick Kahn who urged those in attendance and watching on television to go out and "win this election for Paul". It was so out of control by then that Governor Jesse Ventura, in one of his more coherent moments said that while he at first favored appointing a Democrat to fill the remainder of Wellstone's term, he would no longer even consider a Democrat for the position after the event and instead appointed Independence Party founder Dean Barley to fill the final two months of Wellstone's term.

"I wanted to hear the sons. But Rick Kahn's, I found his so offensive to me as an Independent, or to anyone who is not necessarily going to vote for Senator Wellstone who still respects him and came to pay their respects," Ventura said. "It drove the first lady to tears."

It drove a lot of people to tears that night. That is the problem with the vitriol that is infecting our discourse today.

The electorate needs to grow up and learn how to disagree without being disagreeable. On MSR, we have a conservative, a libertarian and a liberal on the show and while we do disagree on a lot of issues, we still walk away as friends. It's time to tone down the "election rage" and remember that we are all adults and we are all in this together. We can disagree....no we expect to disagree, but that does not mean that we need to be uncivil in the process.