In today’s LA Times, Jonah Goldberg writes that all these calls for “unity”, and decrying the vicious partisanship that have become a hallmark of our times, are not just over-rated, they’re actually the equivalent of telling the opposition to just “stop disagreeing with me and shut up”.
For Goldberg, evidently, it won’t be a problem until somebody starts shooting, but Polimom thinks he’s totally missed the bus.
Yes, of course democracy is about disagreement, but it’s also about discourse and debate — and the implicit foundations of respect and civility.
People who are condemning the over-heated partisan rhetoric aren’t suggesting that the opposition shut-up and dump their positions; they’re saying (or at least, I’m saying) that politics is for grown-ups — and if you can’t act like one, you need to go find your blankie. It’s time for your milk, cookies, and nap.
People who aren’t able (or willing) to listen to another’s underlying concerns, or who only know how to throw verbal knives, clearly aren’t ready for a seat at the adult table in the public dining room.
There’s a great deal of angst lately over America’s youth, and tons of virtual ink have been spent on their lack of respect, rapidly diminishing linguistic skills, and cultural shallowness. I’m not sure, though, that the problem is with the young people — particularly considering the models they’ve been given.
Maybe the better question for dealing with this increasingly dysfunctional incivility is: How are grown-ups supposed to act?
This current crop of “adults” could clearly benefit from some better role models.
This may be the first time Goldberg has been right about anything!
The Civil War does represent a time of much greater partisanship than anything we have today. And after all the blood, Reconstruction was not only another period of severe divide, but one that was a failure of the checks and balances in the federal government. We are nowhere near a situation with our government that compares to either of these times in history. If anything, we face an inverted situation of our government simply not acting. And this inaction possibility is something I can understand as a potential issue, but I still feel that faced with some national crisis there would be action.
Obviously when the minority party is calling for greater unity, you would take this with a grain of salt. And just because one party controls the white house, senate, and house of representatives, does not make it automatically a broken government system. This country still has dependable elections. When the public feels enough impact in their lives that they feel is a result of poor government, the system will self correct.
Wonderfully written, and very quotable, which I duly took advantage of on another topic.
Jack said:
I have to agree that most folks are insulated, for the most part, from both the excesses and inadequacies of our government. Self-corrections, though, are sometimes extremely unpleasant. I can’t help wondering at the sheer mulishness of our leaders insisting on taking this path.
Bush tried to play nice and it certainly was a mistake.
The current leadership in the Dem party are not just unpatriotic they are on the other side.
C’mon, roux. I can’t believe you said that…. and on a post that’s deploring partisan rhetoric and its damages, yet.