Civility Please!

We all have firmly implanted in our minds how uncivil the Trump rallies and campaign events are progressing across the nation. The model of nastiness, even violence, seems to be accepted as normal. But it isn't and the Trump organization is beginning to get the message. A lot of repair work needs to be done.

I don't much care for the insouciance of the republican party. They seem to accept a lot of behavior in the past 20 years that does not conform to what had been the American polite behavior norm. They have pulled out all the stops to win elections and they have been successful with this approach. That's how they won control of the House of Representatives and the US Senate. It hasn't worked so well for winning the White House but they did manage to get George W elected and re-elected, so.....

But here's the thing. Americans at large do not accept this behavior. Even republicans are admitting embarrassment with the Trump antics. His sour face and angry scowls, twisted lips and spittle drenched announcements. His off hand demands to 'get him out of here' echo throughout the nation. To his supporters this is a show of force and executive demeanor. To the rest of us, however, it is a show of offensive bullying.

American culture is much more polite than Trump and his supporters. Manipulation goes only so far.

But wait! Trump is not the only one engaging in this behavior. Rubio responded in kind and lost his own state of Florida in the primaries. He is no longer on the presidential campaign stage. His supporters and others in the republican party have made a statement. Make it civil or go home. He went home before he got the message. Now for Cruz to get the same message!

But now Bernie's supporters are doing the same thing with Hillary's campaign. The nastiness level is less than Trump's, but the steam and rancor are building. This could very well destroy Bernie's campaign, and harm Hillary's campaign at the same time. It will lessen the democrat's chances of beating republicans. We all lose in this scenario.

It is up to everyone to ratchet down the rhetoric several notches. It is also time for candidates to own up to the excesses rising in their own campaign organizations whether they approve of them or not.

I think Bernie Sanders has excellent talking points. He has been persistent with these for years and he is correct in most of his positions in my mind. But to allow them to be machined against a fellow democrat is foolish and misleading. It is also dishonest. He needs to disassociate himself from this practice and to admonish his supporters from engaging in this behavior.

I believe republicans will destroy their own message, campaign and party with a continuation of destructive politics. In the end, however, it is the American people who will enforce this result. You and I have the responsibility to inform decision makers this sort of behavior is unacceptable.

Winning at all costs no longer works. What you have after victory simply doesn't function well at all. The very fabric of governance is built on collaboration and compromise. At the crux of those two is trust and respect. Agreement need not be present. Only respect and trust. Decency allows that to emerge but only if we work for it.

Are you? Are you calling out fellow supporters to cool the rhetoric? Are you cooling your own?

It's high time we all did this.

March 23, 2016