By Sid Roberts / Herald Forum
Thomas Jefferson once said, “when angry, count to 10 before you speak. If very angry, a hundred.” Mark Twain had a different take, “when angry, count to four and then swear.”
Based on our recent national election process, I think we have now completely forgotten how to count and now just want to swear. In the volatile political climate of our world, anger with your opponent seems to be a badge of honor. Name calling and angry denunciation has become normative in some circles. Nevertheless, words are important in relationships, they are important in business and they are important in politics.
The sober reality is that the tone and civility of our political discourse had been deteriorating for many years. This decline has been driven primarily by the internet and social media. The political conversation in our country has become binary and inflammatory. One is either for something or against something and there really doesn’t seem to be much room in the middle.
Plus, if you are on the opposing side of an argument, you are called out as an idiot. This type of vitriolic name calling and pomposity, however, is short sided and unproductive.
In business, compromise and dialogue is the way of life. Win-win negotiation, not zero-sum game, is the principle of success in obtaining any quality agreement. However, the new mantra seems to imply that if you want to win in politics, you must belittle your opponent to get the advantage. Humility, once considered the capital of the wise, seems to be a lost virtue.
My own view is that our political society needs to return to civil discourse. Substantive and honest debate is actually good for policy creation and getting work done. Indeed, when debate is sincere and honest it ultimately forges good policy. Name calling and braggadocio doesn’t change anything. Trust, relationship and compromise make deals. We need modern statesmen to lead the way back to some middle ground.
C.S. Lewis, in his classic work “The Great Divorce,” wrote about the folly of working on a math problem that has an error in the formula. To continue trying to solve the problem, without first fixing the formulaic error, makes a correct answer impossible to obtain. This is bad math. The error in the formula itself must first be corrected before work on solving the actual math problem can be accomplished.
To get this right, we don’t necessarily need to change our minds or alter our values so much. However, we must change the tone and tenor of our voices. We need leaders secure enough to come to the political middle, speak the truth with respect and help us get back on the track.
Otherwise, we have problems we can’t solve.
Sid Roberts lives in Stanwood and is a member of the Stanwood City Council. He and his wife have four grown children and two grandchildren.
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