Stop the Shouting

I have to tell you last week when South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson screamed “You lie!” during the President’s address to Congress, I did not find it as shocking as most. However, I did not simply chalk it up to the controversy surrounding healthcare reform either. Instead, I believe it is a by-product of our political system’s failures. Throughout the history of our nation, Americans have revered heated political debate.  But in this day and age of 10 second sound bites, talk radio, cable pundits, and all the “Opinion” that is available instantly on the internet, we have lost the art of political oratory. We have given up on civil debate. We have instead resorted to shouting. Lots and lots of shouting. Nowadays, it seems that everyone has an opinion, everyone needs to be heard and everyone feels that if they can shout the loudest, they win by drowning out their opposition. This strategy has been prevalent for years. Draw a line in the sand, get your base on your side, on any given issue, and shout to the high heavens. It doesn’t matter if its immigration, taxes, abortion, going to war or in this case healthcare. Wanna win? Divide people on an issue and make a lot of noise. And what happens? We citizens get stuck. Left divided with nothing to show for it but lots of noise and few results. Folks, don’t we deserve better? A hundred and fifty years ago while addressing the issue of slavery, Abraham Lincoln stood in the Illinois statehouse and said “A house divided against itself cannot stand”. Those words are just as true today. We have let them divide us. We have allowed this great nation to become divvied up into Red states vs Blue states. Conservatives vs Liberals. Wingnuts on the right and Wingnuts on the left.  No one is allowed to stand in the moderate middle. What can we do about it? Stop shouting. Stop being divisive. Share your opinion on matters and then ask those who disagree with you to share theirs. Maybe we can all figure out where the middle ground is and return civilized debate back into the equation. It will not happen overnight but it will make this a Better Region 8.

Comments

[Charles]

You spoke of why we have become such a hateful society. Well, young man, I can give you the root cause with one word: Multiculturalism.