A plea for civility

[struggle4progress]

Maybe it is just a symptom of my age, but I find myself nostalgic for the old-school etiquette I learned in childhood, back when people still said "If you can’t say anything good about someone, come sit right here by me" and really meant it

I am unsure what has happened to American public discourse in the years since

Although I never been much susceptible to a rosy sentimental remembrance of things past, time does wound all heels: I can recall clearly the day in late April 1994 when I suddenly realized I no longer yearned to see Nixon suspended by his thumbs over a cauldron of boiling oil

But even at that time I would never have believed that after only few more decades a day would dawn when I came to regard Nixon as the best Republican president in the last fifty years, without my view of him improving --- rather as if in a disconcerting dream, where one rides a bicycle out into the summer countryside but becomes completely lost so turns back to retrace the route to any familiar landmark, only to discover that there is no road at all and that one simply stands slack-jawed before a burning Reichstag

Thus those of more tender years might also in coming time find themselves looking back amazed to regard Trump as the best Republican president of first half of the 21st century

We should therefore seek to bind up the nation's wounds before too late

And this, of course, means appreciating the positive

Trump has crafted a new language for us, which may endure: we are making America tweet again; and history if written properly will recall crowds chanting "Lock him up!"

Be wry, friends, and be sly

Nothing is worse than life without any sense of humor

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. Kindness. We need to return to being kind to each other.

[struggle4progress]

2. If You're Ready

[struggle4progress]

3. Bridge Over Troubled Water

[ck4829]

4. Sorry, but I'm good, thanks

No amount of civility in the world will change our so-called "healthcare" system, which is more concerned with making sure erection pills get distributed to those men who can afford the luxury than with helping people with medical concerns like this boy or my two year old nephew, it won't guarantee their future or protect them from pain or suffering.

No amount of civility will cause the worms and maggots to disappear in the form of the factions and institutions which said on that tainted joke of an election that people who want healthcare and education for all are unreasonable and crazy while normalizing the alt/far right and three percenters, the groups who want "The Purge" in real life.

No amount of civility will make it OK where we have media and politicians pushing Muslim-Americans and Transgender-Americans as the other but Putin in the Kremlin as our BFF.

"We should therefore seek to bind up the nation's wounds before too late "

And I think this is the source of our disagreement here, because believe me, I wish I had your POV. Why should we seek this? What happens when "too late" happens?

[struggle4progress]

5. Politics is about building winning coalitions

That usually requires basic interpersonal skills and a light touch

[All-In]

6. Sorry I Will Treat All Republicans As Evil Scum As They Deserve

When they begin to act more like human beings, I will lighten up.

Till then, they are all traitors trying to kill me by taking away my health insurance, and poisoning my planet.

[struggle4progress]

9. Since those folk won't give a rat's ass what we say or do, they're not the ones we need to reach:

we need to reach the anxious, the confused, the fence-sitters, and the ill-informed

[Warpy]

7. Well, I'd still like to see Nixon pay for his crimes

of bringing crooks into the party and making cheating a part of that party's platform, something culminating in hacked voting machines and coordinated attacks against voting rights.

However, yes, he was likely the best one in the last 50 years, only because the bar keeps getting lower and lower.

I do hope Millennials 50 years from now see the country getting better instead of worse every single year. I would hate to curse any other generation with the 50 years we've just been through.

Mostly, I hope they regard Dumpf as the last Republican president.

[lunasun]

8. Not much humorous for some of us in the others caste

Demonization Facist rules not so funny

[struggle4progress]

10. If we want movement politics, we have to be smart: there is no movement without fun

People sometimes think being grim and warlike is the whole story -- but it's not

[mopinko]

11. i think this devolves from the fact that there are now 2 sets of "truths".

2 different realities. the long brewing split caused by the end of the fairness doctrine.
when people said- you are entitled to your opinion, but not your own facts- that was a true statement. not any more.

and the fire in this is that we know that we live in a fact based universe, and they dont. getting along w people who believe obama was a secret kenyan muslim is pretty damn hard. even some who dont go that far still think he was groomed by the cia and installed as a ruler.

if someone can tell me how you get along w that, i am all ears.

[raven mad]

12. I refuse to act like a rabid right-wing zealot.

Trying to maintain a sense of humor in today's political climate is difficult, but not impossible. In fact, it's about the only thing keeping me going, and not running into the wilderness to hide under a spruce stump (or in an old bus........). Unfortunately, the "loyal opposition" seems incapable of civility OR humor, unless it's snide potty laughs and smirking double entendre.

US:


Vs. THEM