Divisive Words and Threats to Unity: Political and Cultural

The divisions that exist among us in the United States, in both political and cultural terms, and that seem to be widening and threatening our core unity as a nation, do reflect some fundamental differences of perspective and on principles of good governance and how best to enhance human thriving. Nonetheless, inflammatory accusations, name-calling, and hyperbolic rants add inestimably to that division. Especially worrisome is what appears to be the near-universal tendency to assume venality in the hearts of those on the other "side" of a partisan/political/ideological/cultural/religious divide. Peggy Noonan today in the Wall Street Journal, in her typically thoughtful and common-sense style, writes about the special responsibility of those in political leadership not to indulge in such rhetoric. Here is an excerpt:

No nation's unity, cohesion and feeling of being at peace with itself can be taken for granted, even ours. They have to be protected day by day, in part by what politicians say. They shouldn't be making it worse. They shouldn't make divisions deeper.

In just the past week that means:

The president shouldn't be using a fateful and divisive word like "impeachment" to raise money and rouse his base. He shouldn't be at campaign-type rallies where he speaks only to the base, he should be speaking to the country. He shouldn't be out there dropping his g's, slouching around a podium, complaining about his ill treatment, describing his opponents with disdain: "Stop just hatin' all the time." The House minority leader shouldn't be using the border crisis as a campaign prop, implying that Republicans would back Democratic proposals if only they were decent and kindly: "It's not just about having a heart. It's about having a soul." And, revealed this week, important government administrators like Lois Lerner shouldn't be able to operate within an agency culture so sick with partisanship that she felt free to refer to Republicans, using her government email account, as "crazies" and "—holes."

All this reflects a political culture of brute and mindless disdain, the kind of culture that makes divisions worse.

To call ourselves political leaders would be to flatter ourselves and over-estimate the influence of the Mirror of Justice. Nonetheless, we too need to be conscious of the effect that incivility in the "blogosphere" -- and especially the too easy attribution of malice and bad motives to others -- weakens the civil ties that can and should still bind us and that are necessary to any meaningful work toward the common good.