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| J Paul w Cynthia Garrett |
For twenty years, J. Paul was “the
conscience of the Legislature.” Everyone liked and respected him,
although his progressive politics weren't to everyone's liking. At
98, he gets out less and less; but at the annual celebration at Farm
and Ranch, he still remembered everyone and greeted well wishers with
that marvelous smile. He can still hold an audience.
He was frank
and funny discussing uncertainty whether he'd be gone next August or
live to 110. He acknowledged that it wasn't up to him. His face
expressed joy in the moment – not fear of the next.
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| J Paul w Terry Miller |
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| J Paul w Win Jacobs |
McCain invited two men who'd beaten
him for the Presidency, George Bush and Barack Obama, to eulogize
him. That was meant as symbolic advocacy of less partisanship.
I often disagreed with McCain's views
and votes. But how can you not respect him: as a prisoner-of-war,
offered the chance for an early release because of his father's high
position, McCain declined, because his comrades would remain
imprisoned. It's telling that Mr. Trump, despite heavy pressure from
his associates, couldn't even bring himself to express respect for
McCain initially.
Is civility in public discourse dying?
It seemed so in the decades before the civil war; during FDR's New
Deal; and during the turbulent 1960's. But civil political discourse
came back after the 1860-65 wildfire; and during the 1960's, senators
and congressmen from different parties still dined together or
carpooled to their home states for recess. So far, we've always
recovered from rampant incivility, which is tiring at best.
How can we begin to recover now? By
each pitching in, however we can.
A retired minister I interviewed
recently said, “I've met very few evil people in my life.” I'm
not sure I've met any. One key to civility is to recall that,
despite what all the political memes suggest, people are not evil.
Rather, we humans can (sometimes through contortions worthy of a
circus performer ) see our acts and words, and those of our political
heroes, as right, no matter what.
Though you may reject someone's
belief, rejecting the whole person is unproductive. Fighting the
Hydra-headed wrongness of some re-post on Facebook can be diverting,
if you like Wac-a-Mole. A better bet is trying to understand them,
and the soil their misconceptions thrive in, and asking them
reasonable questions, particularly if you can project that despite it
all you like them. It helps to find common points, or a shared
affection for basketball or babies or bon bons.
Nowadays, having some haven from
politics and constant consciousness of current events is critical.
And harder to maintain, when every time you open the computer to
write a poem or check a baseball score or gaze lovingly at your
grandkids, that Facebook icon demands to be clicked – and gobbles
up the next two hours if you let it. But we need breaks from our
reasonable worrying about the world's fate. Sit in silence, read,
listen to music (or make it), walk outdoors, write a poem.
Insults or slights are poisons people
offer you; but you need not drink! Fight only what needs fighting.
Letting bitterness devour you helps no one.
Sure, you're angry at Trump – or at
George Soros. But let JPT and McCain inspire us to recognize people
as neighbors, and rebuild community.
-30-
[The above column appeared this morning, Sunday, 2 September 2018, in the Las Cruces Sun-News and on the newspaper's website and KRWG's website. During the week a spoken version will air on KRWG Radio and on KTAL, 101.5 FM (www.lccommunityradio.org).]
[I don't mean to make civility our paramount value. The fact that our ruling/managing classes are often so civil may be related to the fact that they are having the best of it at our expense most of the time. Quite politely, the Democrats and Republicans enact laws that help corporations and the wealthy, and the financial industry, with little regard for us (particularly the poorest among us) or our health or environment. A little incivility in the cause of a fairer and more just world, or in favor of getting our heads out of the sand about climate change, or in favor of forests, wildlife, nature, healthy food, and cutting down on the dangerous chemicals that are all around us and inside us because avoiding them is inconvenient for big business operations -- such incivility might be a welcome note, even something we desperately needed.
However, that's a far cry from an administration where one man's ego and insecurities are primary, not our country, while he and his cohorts destroy what they can of our country.]
[Our
political incivility is not just the product of one man. It was
growing before 2016; and we should remember that. Yeah, Mr. Trump
indulged in insults and played some racist cards; but he didn't
invent either. He took advantage of our deep divisions, and deepened
them.
Thus
it's hard not to note reports from John McCain's funeral of a more
graceful political moment in which Mr. Trump was not present, or
perhaps even mentioned – though awareness of him was obvious. Two
men who had defeated McCain in Presidential races, George Bush and
Barack Obama, from two different political parties, both spoke –
and at one point Mrs. Bush passed to Mr. Bush a candy or chocolate or
something, which he passed on to Mrs. Obama. Trump, uninvited, and
unmentioned, was a stark contrast to their remarks on the dead
senator.
Bush
mentioned that, “Above all, John detested the abuse of power. He
could not abide bigots and swaggering despots." Obama praised
McCain's
ability to transcend partisan fights and alluded to the "bombast
and insult and phony controversies" of the current political
climate.
"So
much of our politics, public life, public discourse can seem small
and mean and petty, trafficking in bombast, and insult, and phony
controversies, and manufactured outrage," Obama said.
(Jeez, is there a prominent public figure who insults people and
tweets bombstically about pettty disputes, picking all kinds of
unnecessary fights?)
"It's
the politics that pretends to be brave and tough but in fact is born
of fear," Obama said. "John called on us to be bigger than
that. He called on us to be better than that."
Obama recalled
McCain visiting him sometimes at the White House for private policy
discussions. "Our disagreements didn't go away during these
private conversations," Obama told attendees. "Those
were real and they were often deep. But we enjoyed the time we shared
away from the bright lights, and we laughed with each other, and we
learned from each other."
Perhaps
significantly, Obama noted that, despite their political differences,
he always knew he and McCain were acting out of a
shared desire to do what was best for the country.
(Do many truly believe the same of Mr. Trump?)
Meghan
McCain called her father "a great man," adding, "We
gather here to mourn the passing of American greatness. The real
thing, not cheap rhetoric from men who will never come near the
sacrifice he gave so willingly, nor the opportunistic appropriation
of those who lived lives of comfort and privilege," she added.
"The
America of John McCain has no need to be made great again because
America was always great," she said to applause.]
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