The Courage To Be Civil

E.J. Dionne’s column this morning holds up former Republican member of Congress, Jim Leach, as a profile in civility. He has, Dionne, writes, “a lot of the old moderate Republican in him” and “an immoderate dose of courage.”

Leach lost his Iowa seat in the 2006 Democratic sweep, but became a Republican for Obama in 2008. Obama appointed him chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities. But it was Leach’s recent National Press Club speech, and his planned 50-state “civility tour,” that caught Dionne’s attention.

To wit:

It is particularly difficult not to be concerned about American public manners and the discordant rhetoric of our politics. Words reflect emotion as well as meaning. They clarify—or cloud—thought and energize action, sometimes bringing out the better angels in our nature, sometimes lesser instincts.

[. . .]
There is, after all, a difference between holding a particular tax or spending or health care view and asserting that an American who supports another approach or is a member of a different political party is an advocate of an “ism” of hate that encompasses gulags and concentration camps. One framework of thought defines rival ideas; the other, enemies.

Leach echoes some ideas from my first published op-ed. From 2003:

Once upon a time in another political era I watched those televised Firing Line debates between conservative talk show host and publisher William F. Buckley and liberal economist John Kenneth Galbraith.

I remember how civilized they were. Verbal exchanges were polite and cordial. Rhetorical jabs were good-natured, often humorous. While holding opposing views and contrasting philosophies these men clearly both liked and respected each other. No interruptions, no browbeating, no insults, no histrionics, and no mocking.

That was before the dark times, before political talk radio and now, point/counterpoint television. Browbeating and histrionics are de rigueur in these forums, where rolling the eyes passes for argument, and rudeness for conviction.

[. . .]
I miss the thoughtful dialogues of Firing Line. That tradition continues less conspicuously in print exchanges between William F. Buckley and Michael Kinsley of Slate, for example. In their place infotainment proffers self-anointed Charles Foster Kanes who believe they make public opinion, who treat those with opposing views as public enemies, and who encourage us to do the same. Unlike Buckley, Galbraith and Kinsley, too many of us never learned that it is possible for an intelligent person of good will to examine issues and to reach conclusions different from ours without being corrupt, foolish, or the embodiment of evil.