Un-Civil Discourse

By Chuck Hobbs, Esq. (Inspired, in part, by Joe Jefferson–Good Kappa!) – As a military brat growing up in the 70’s and 80’s, I remember listening to my father, a Republican, wax ad nauseam about how weak President Carter had been at home (remember odd and even gas days) and abroad (Iran Hostage crisis) while my mother, a committed Democrat even unto this day, would counter with how the reduction of government programs would have a detrimental impact on the poor and minorities.

Those civil debates at the dinner table helped form the basis of my political duplicity—a Republican who supports some key Democrat concepts.

Truth be told, most Americans, like I, are members of one of the major parties but not necessarily wedded to each and every sentence of the party’s talking points. Americans of this ilk can have a political disagreement without resorting to the gauche name calling that has become all too familiar in the public square.

I am not so naïve as to believe that there was ever a time in America where politics was a civil game. Politics is truly a contact sport, not meant for the weak or feint of heart. For those lamenting posters of President Obama depicted as a clown, consider poor Grover Cleveland, whose opponents attacked his alleged out-of-wedlock child with the jingle “Ma, Ma where is my pa?” “Gone to the White House, ha ha ha.”

While much has been written about the need for greater civility within the electoral arena, what really irks me is when those slinging the most mud turn into best friends forever with the victorious candidate. In Florida, for months I listened to establishment Republicans assail Governor-Elect Rick Scott as an evil corporate criminal. And yet, when he defeated Attorney General Bill McCollum for the GOP nomination, those same individuals questioning his ethics were suddenly in his corner.

Some may shrug their shoulders and say “such is politics.” No, such is simply opportunism. My enemy today is my enemy tomorrow—unless there is some serious Damascus Road experience to change my thoughts. I guess for some, the lust for power qualifies as Damascus.

The Tea Party

Few modern political movements have been as polarizing as the Tea Party. Hardened left wingers are convinced that the entire movement is based upon a backlash to the country’s first black president as it is comprised of racist, back-woods, ignorant voters.

And those are just the nice criticisms from the left.

The truth, as with most things, is that the Tea Party is a mixture of loosely affiliated individuals who share the age-old conservative goal to reduce the size and scope of the Federal government. Period! Many are actually well informed about the tenets of their core beliefs.

Are there racists within the Tea Party? Absolutely, but probably no more than the racists on the left who adhere to the elitist “I know what is best for you people” type smarminess that is condescending to minority voters. Lest we forget Bill Clinton’s references to President Obama as “boy” during the presidential primary or both Joe Biden and Harry Reid marveling at Obama’s “articulation” as if there are not millions of other black men throughout America who can articulate as well—or better—than the president?

My concern with the Tea Party is whether it will continue to oust politicians who are so drunk with power in Washington that they choose their own fiat over the will of the people?

To that end, I agree with Florida Senator-Elect Marco Rubio’s sentiments that last week’s Republican sweep was not a time for GOP celebration—as GOP leaders for years have been as culpable as their Democrat adversaries in espousing policies that were not in the best interest of the general public.

What is troubling is that several Republicans elected as Tea Party favorites, including Rubio, Black Republican Allen West and Kentucky’s Rand Paul, are unwilling to disassociate themselves from the very Beltway insiders they railed against to the delight of Tea Party members nationwide. Stay tuned…

Patience is a lost virtue.

There are times when I wonder if the present age of Americans has the same fortitude to withstand struggle as our recent forebears, namely the Depression era individuals who withstood the pitfalls of that period to later witness the heights of the world’s dominant economic superpower after World War II.

If Franklin Roosevelt had been reincarnated in ‘08 and elected to a fifth term in office (or to complete his fourth), would he have been vilified at the levels that President Obama has?

I have not agreed with every decision that the Obama Administration has made. As a small business owner, I certainly would have liked to have seen an earlier emphasis on measures to stimulate such businesses through tax cuts and access to short term loans to help stem the tide of unemployment.

Still, even if the administration had done everything that I and other like me asked, there is little chance that everything would be fixed in just two short years.

As many historians have pointed out, it really wasn’t until armament production during World War II increased—10 years after the Depression commenced—that the economy began to radically improve.

It is apparent that we lack such patience today. Like the characters in Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, we are so conditioned to assign value to the shadows on the wall, in this instance politicians promising quick fixes and instantaneous job creation, that we are no longer conditioned to grit our collective teeth and bear hardships until better days arrive.