A few weeks ago I wrote of some of the more amusing responses my advocacy of a small government, free market approach to economic development has elicited: I’m a Communist, I drove away Lowes, etc., etc. Such remarks, coming from those with no responsibility for, or record of, public policy making or execution are more funny than anything else.
The same cannot be said of the way candidates for the Republican presidential nomination have tearing into each other. We’ve been treated to the less-than-edifying spectacles of:
- one candidate repeatedly using personal insults against others to drive them out of the race,
- candidates discussing the relative sizes of each other’s “hands” as reasons to win or lose support,
- an organization supporting one candidate publishing a photograph of another candidate’s wife in a “suggestive” modeling pose,
- the other candidate himself retaliating with posting an unflattering photograph of the first candidate’s wife, with promises of more beans to be spilled, and
- the publication by a tabloid–who’s owner is friendly with one candidate–of a story charging his rival with multiple affairs.
Can anyone imagine Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, or Ronald Reagan using these tactics?? Not even Richard Nixon was this bad.
What’s so tragic about this slimefest into which the Republican presidential campaign has degenerated is that it’s tearing the party apart, making it far easier for Bernie or Hillary to win this fall, and not only because the Republicans insist on generating propaganda for the Democrats to use against them (actually, Hillary won’t have to say anything negative about the Republicans at all—all she’ll need to do is rerun some of the GOP candidates’ remarks about each other, sit back, and laugh). The Republicans are also hurting each other by creating such ill feelings that working together this fall will become far more difficult than might otherwise have been the case. In short, whatever damage the Democrats succeed in doing to the Republicans will be far less than that which the Republicans are doing to themselves.
The danger of dysfunctional operations stemming from ill feelings is great at all levels of government. Check out C-SPAN and Youtube to see examples of how members of Congress and state legislatures refer to each other in the course of debates and committee hearings. They frequently engage in elaborate expressions of mutual admiration, respect, and courtesy. Hypocritical? Maybe. Yet they realize that some level of civility is necessary to improve the way legislatures deliberate and make decisions—a point also made frequently by Texas Monthly when it rates our best and worst state lawmakers. Bullying, name calling, and tantrums shut down reasoned debate on the issues and reduce the chances that lawmakers can make the best decisions based on facts and reason. I recall in particular one city council member who began to charge that those who disagreed with him were violating their oaths of office to uphold the Texas and United States Constitutions—a tactic that failed to promote good will, reasoned debate, or intelligent decisions, to say the least.
Candidates for office, and officeholders themselves, need to remember that civil behavior will probably increase their chances of winning office, and definitely increase their achievements once elected. And while a person’s civility is only one factor voters should consider in choosing which candidates to support or oppose, it should nonetheless be an important factor when they go to the polls.
Malcolm L. Cross has lived in Stephenville and taught politics and government at Tarleton since 1987. His political and civic activities include service on the Stephenville City Council (2000-2014) and on the Erath County Republican Executive Committee (1990 to the present). He was Mayor Pro Tem of Stephenville from 2008 to 2014. He is a member of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church and the Stephenville Rotary Club, and does volunteer work for the Boy Scouts of America. Views expressed in this column are his and do not reflect those of The Flash as a whole.
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