Be Human: Don't Let the Politicians Win

Democrat Congressmen who voted for heath care reform have been getting death threats and the natural reaction has been to blame the heated rhetoric of the right in stoking up tea party outrage.  Let's start with the obvious: Congressmen who supported health care reform did it out of a genuine interest in bettering the country, even if you disagree with them threatening violence, or worse doing violence, is deplorable.  The debate got ugly, but all sides should immediately condemn the violence in the strongest terms possible.  That out of the way, I find myself in the uncomfortable position of agreeing with The Corner.  Victor Davis Hanson:

This week’s talking point is the sudden danger of new right-wing violence, and the inflammatory push-back against health care.  I’m sorry, but all this concern is a day late and a dollar short. The subtext is really one of class — right-wing radio talk-show hosts, Glenn Beck idiots, and crass tea-party yokels are foaming at the mouth and dangerous to progressives. In contrast, write a book in which you muse about killing George Bush, and its Knopf imprint proves it is merely sophisticated literary speculation; do a docudrama about killing George Bush, and it will win a Toronto film prize for its artistic value rather than shock from the liberal community about over-the-top discourse.

Nearly everyone in the Tea Party movement are sincerely concerned citizens and blaming them for the misinformed, violent indignation of a few people is unjust.  The reason the violent political craziness comes from the right at the moment, is because the left is in power.  That's just the nature of the beast; when your guy is running the show people might get annoyed, but by an large they don't ram into cars for wearing the wrong bumpersticker.  

When Bush was in office, the left thought of his very existence as a baneful reminder of all things wrong with the United States.  This feeling led people to behave very badly.  I don't think it's exactly the equivalent of the present situation; most of the examples Mr. Harris makes are from private citizens, not members of Congress like Michelle Bachmann:

"This cannot pass. What we have to do today is make a covenant, to slit our wrists, be blood brothers on this thing. This will not pass. We will do whatever it takes to make sure this doesn’t pass.”  

Nonetheless, when you act badly the other side can rightly claim that you don't have the credibility criticize what they say.

It would behoove all of us to try to be more civil, less prone to hyperbole and, most importantly, to stop linking every issue into a score keeping of who is the most wrong.  The fact that Republicans were wrong about Iraq doesn't make the Democrats right about health care reform.  Treating the other side as permanently disgraced because of positions held sincerely, if ultimately incorrectly, leads to a situation where people began to dehumanize their political opponents.  

At the same time, political leaders should refrain from saying that a bill to modify health care will end freedom in this country or that people who oppose health care reform do so out of a selfish lack of concern for the plight of the poor and infirm.  That's absurd, counterproductive and using the law of very large numbers, possibly dangerous.  Some people out there are crazy, and crazy just needs an excuse.  Don't give it one, be better than that, Democrats and Republicans.

Comments

[Ivan Ivanovich]

Guys like Beck may be annoying but they have been anything but hateful and if people took a minute to look at their facts they would see that they are in fact correct. Don't downplay things either. I have seen no believable retort so Beck's points about the nature of the people Obama has staffed his administration with or the obvious truth that producers will not work hard so the government can spend it on things they don't want. The hatemonger accussations are far too old.

[Joseph Cox]

I didn't mention Glenn Beck except in the quote. Considering Beck said Obama has a deep seeding "hatred" of white people, I think calling him a "hate monger" seems appropriate.

Obama has staffed his adminstration with career civil servants and people of extreme distinction. If you disagree with their politics then oppose them on those grounds, but to imagine they are nefarious is simply ludicrous.

Nothing is obvious about that "truth." The top tax rate in the 1990's was 4.5% higher than it is today, yet our economy grew at a historic clip. Taxes as a function of GDP are at the lowest they have been since before the Great Depression. Yet, we have a recession. My analysis isn't conclusive, it ignores all sorts of variables that contributed to these realities. However, that just demonstrates that nothing is obvious and if you think a subject is completely cut and dry, that probably just means you don't understand it.