People long to belong to something larger than themselves. Often times the easiest way to accomplish this is to focus on a common enemy. We see this in all sorts of political organizations and advocacy groups that assure their members that, “you are right and they are wrong—and dumb.”
I think we can begin to address our declining civility by starting with these three drivers. My sense tells me that 10 percent of the right and 10 percent of the left are so determined to make themselves the “good ones” and the other side the “bad ones” that no matter what I or anyone else writes, they will never listen. This leaves 80 percent of Americans who really want more civility and less polarization in Congress and across America.
Ultimately we all want a vigorous exchange of ideas. We know the sweetness of the democratic process is the ability to forge solutions even though we have different starting points. Governing to achieve solutions means we must be willing to compromise without caving on our principles. It also means that if we are involved in policy politics, we must decide we want to raise the bar on the culture of civility and that it will start with ourselves first!
Steven Carter, a Yale University professor who clerked for former Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall, once told me that he never heard Marshall say a bad thing about another person. Yes, he disagreed about ideas, but he shunned personal attacks.
So where do we conservatives start in reestablishing a culture of civility? In one word, leadership. Let’s decide we want to be leaders in the same spirit of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Ronald Reagan. If we do, we will not only capture the mind of America, but her soul.