On political speech

In this season of fraught political dialogue, if you can call it dialogue rather than diatribe and demagoguery, I entertained the thought of weighing in on some topics. However, when I read the editorial pages I find them to be so partisan that reasonable speech seems as remote as the stars and unheeded when it pops up. I think the reason why local papers publish letters to the editor is to prevent angry hotheads from actually doing something they will regret. It is a real public service to deflect the misguided from some intemperate or criminal act. Mercy! Hasn't the conversation reached the shouting pitch on so many topics? If my stated mission is the preservation of civilization and civility, ought I not add my voice to the many?

On topical subjects I am fairly familiar and we do take two newspapers in the morning. We also listen to radio and watch television, so we are fully exposed to reporting. Journalism used to be a profession in which practitioners prided themselves on an impartial presentation of issues. Now I see the trend is toward advocacy where many salient facts are being presented in a biased fashion. Truth becomes a casualty in this and we are then victims of our own prejudices since we tend to seek out opinions which confirm our little preferences. We delude ourselves by affirming how smart we are to share in the opinion of so many. Don't get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with advocacy. My Daddy was a lawyer and he practiced that craft all his life for the benefit of many good people.

The disturbing element in this stew of opinions is that everyone is shouting at everyone else, if not directly then by proxy. The name-calling and the scurrilous remarks are characteristic of schoolyard behavior. This becomes all the more serious when adults refine and routinely practice these rhetorical vices in the name of tribalism. That's the beginning of real trouble and what begins as local gang warfare becomes a model for international behavior, and you know where that leads.

We have lived through many disagreements in this country on very broad topics and some have led to war. That was a terrible time when the nation was riven. Throughout those travails the citizen-statesman was a person to be respected, someone who offered his time, energy and beliefs for the common good. The professional politician of today has usurped this mantle of formerly noble service and winks at his financial backers with an eye to re-election only. It is small wonder that there is so much mistrust of and anger at our elected representatives. Their class has been smeared recently by the conduct of too many of their number.

In keeping with my rating scheme for gauging the value of aspects of modern living, I had expected to offer worthiness rankings on the political front by awarding up to three tall hats for excellence. It now seems I will have to hold them in my top desk drawer until the tone of the current political discourse improves considerably.

Many kisses, Celeste