Can we put civility back into public policy debates?
By Willis Webb | Published Thursday, September 11, 2008
A recent letter to the editor in a newspaper I read displayed a great example of civility, which all of us should take to heart - the presidential candidates, all other elected officials, the general public and, yes, newspaper editorialists and columnists.
This letter writer began by saying he took "slight exception" to another letter writer, gently inferring the other writer made the same mistake lots of folks do in assuming we all paid into Social Security and when we are older, we are drawing out our own money. He went on to make his case sensibly, using obvious well-researched facts. He was civilized and very logically presented his case.
In short, it was a breath of fresh air in a time when people in politics seem to be in a combative mode and resort to a scorched earth policy with regard to anyone who disagrees with their belief, policy or general point of view.
While this phenomenon is more noticeable in election campaigns, it has spread in such a manner as to permeate daily activity. My old cowboy dad used to cling to the adage that you don't discuss money, politics or religion. He was always rather quiet, particularly when those topics came up. Only those males really close to him ever saw his earthy side (almost all cowboys have one). No one, with the possible exception of my mother, knew within any close proximity his financial condition, nor for whom he voted, and while he didn't go to church, he'd never discuss anyone's religion.
Our world today is a far cry from the world of old cowboy Texans like Dad.
The part that is today furthest from his philosophy is the world of politics. And, the reason for that is that a segment of the political world began adapting a philosophy, and a matching demeanor, of attacking anyone and anything that was viewed as in disagreement with their ideology. The roots for this segment had its beginnings in the 1964 presidential campaign of Barry Goldwater. Richard Nixon carried it much further and in so doing resurrected a political life that most had written off. Then, the great communicator Ronald Reagan so completely mastered the philosophy that now both parties, and their extremes, battle over ideology instead of doing what those who govern us are supposed to do and that is to solve problems.
Instead of problem solving for us citizen voters, we get the intractable: "That's against my ideology and I'll die in flames before I go against that." This polarizing stance has kept our government from solving many of the problems of the day, such as Social Security.
One of the greatest editorial writers I've ever read was Erwin Canham, the longtime editor of The Boston Christian Science Monitor, who I was required to read in an early 1960s job. The requirement quickly became joyful because he was extremely thorough and wrote so intelligently. Canham was the most logical, indisputable editorial writer I've ever read. He was never politically ideological. Canham would take a problem and very logically state it. Then, he would carefully craft a solution, usually defined in steps, that was designed to benefit the most people and next to impossible to dispute.
His reputation for balance and fairness was so well-known that some prison inmates once asked for Canham to mediate a prison dispute.
The letter to the editor writer mentioned at the beginning of this column wrote in such a logical manner as to inspire confidence and respect for the writer.
He acknowledged that the politicians (both Democrat and Republican) had somehow raided the lockbox and spent our money on other things but also pointed out that Social Security is a pay as you go program and has been since its inception in 1935. He also said when the baby boom began, each retiree's benefits was divided among 16 workers, which kept taxes low. Now it takes 3.3 workers per retiree and that will shrink to two workers per retiree by 2025, both indicators that taxes will go up.
The letter writer pointed out some other scary facts and concluded we must demand that our elected representatives come up with a solution now, not in a few years. And, he encouraged continuing education for us and our fellow citizens, then closed with one of my favorite adages: If your outgo exceeds your income, your upkeep will be your downfall.
Amen.
Willis Webb is a retired community newspaper editor-publisher with more than 50 years in the business. He can be reached by email at wwebb@wildblue.net.
