The Necessity of Civility in Politics

Eyes have been turned on politics since the last election with growing partisanship and lack of basic civil respect. No names, no side, no person will be mentioned because the blame lands on both parties equally. They created the environment were hate and anger are the mainstay of government business. As a value system we failed to contemplate the long-term disadvantage of brutality.

Some of you were raised with a religious background and some of you were not. You don't necessarily need it to have a religious participation to have a civil approach to treating others. We as human beings know that our society is based on the ability to work together as a group and this is deeply rooted in our psychological, biological, and historical existence.

Whether we are discussing a nation, or some savage band living in the woods, the principles are the same. It is our ability to work together and overcome our challenges that makes the difference in our survival. Once we decide to not work together the fabric of our "togetherness" begins to break down; society weakens and new paths are created.

Its unfortunate that some of the rudest and selfish people are seen as strong personalities to emulate. People are beginning to copy and act in the same way. A true sign that as Americans we need to question our values should consider where we want to end up in the future and in our lives. Our future is defined by the choices of our present and past.

Worse, we are encouraging bad behavior and even worse characters through financial and social rewards.

I have seen it in the workplace and I have seen it in politics where the profane move up the ranks and good people are left to the side. The selfish are hungry and don't care one way or another the consequences of their choices unless those consequences land directly on them. Yet..who cares...by the time people come to their senses the barbarism already took its course.

I guess this might depend on how you define Barbarians. Cruel, insensitive, not following societal norms and not part of civilized society seems to be a common definition.  Standing outside the norms reflects on the people who violate such social values while changing our American value system reflects on us as a nation.

Sure...they may fear breaking the law and getting in trouble but they don't care one way or another the social consequences of their behavior. As long as they get what they want, they eat from the trough, and move on. If they are ever held accountable for their actions they simply just deny, blame, and jump ship. Values and loyalty are in short supply.

Civility allows us to work toward a beneficial solution versus spending our time and energy fighting each other. As we spend our time in tit for tat arguments we waste our energies that could be used for finding real solutions to real problems. Without solutions we only gain more problems, more problems and even more problems. Perhaps so many problems we can't fix them all.

As the incessant barking at each other continues the nation is running into deep problems. Deficits, education, emerging economies, military power flexing, and declining standards of living. Few things can be based and solutions are not rooted in compromise but set in stubborn dogmatic lines. We are not only losing our moral fabric but also letting our futures slip through our hands. Present leaders are setting a precedence which may reverberate for a long time.

America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.- Abraham Lincoln