A Vigorous Debate,
With Civil Discourse

 By Roy Maynard

We can demand more of political candidates � and ourselves � in the coming year. We can raise the bar higher for civility in political discourse.

Granted, the new year hasn�t begun well. Republican presidential candidates were squabbling and sinking ever lower � ignoring Ronald Reagan�s 11th Commandment (�thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican�). Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, for example, was calling former Massachussetts Gov. Mitt Romney a liar.

On the other side of the aisle, the Democrats are ramping up the �us against them� rhetoric.

Republicans, according to the Democrats, want the poor, the elderly and the disabled to �fend for themselves.�

Come on. We�re better than this � all of us. We can hash out our differences without resorting to name-calling, personal attacks or overstatement. And we should. The 2012 presidential election is, like all presidential elections, important enough for us to take seriously our responsibility to weigh all the arguments carefully.

We pledge to take the medicine we�re prescribing to others. The Association of Opinion Journalists (formerly the National Conference of Editorial Writers) has launched the Civility Project in an effort to help newspaper (and other) opinion writers to police themselves, just as they police their own letters columns.

�The constitutional right of free speech brings out the best in us, and the worst,� says Frank Parsch, who heads that project. �This project is conducted in the spirit of the First Amendment. The Civility Project does not seek to redefine political campaigning or reinvent the public-policy conversation. We aim to be persuasive, no matter how great the distance between points of view, in promoting respect, not only for the adversary but also for the audience and for the democratic institutions whose wellbeing depends so much on the wisdom of an informed electorate.�

We�re glad to participate in the Civility Project; there�s a great divide these days between free speech, responsible speech and the useful exchange if ideas and opinion. It�s incumbent on journalists to set a good example.

So let�s lay out some guidelines. Like the 10 Commandments, we�ll begin with the positive ones, but fewer.

First, let�s be persuasive. Far too many opinion pieces and campaign ads miss the point. Instead of persuading the undecided (or even making a few converts), they merely rile up the faithful. There�s an argument to be made that each party�s �base� must be energized, but that really only applies in the hours before voting begins. The rest of the time is better spent enlarging a candidate�s appeal, not scaring the bajeebers out of the regulars.

Next, let�s be accurate. The biggest disservice we can do to our own arguments is to misstate or misrepresent the facts or the positions of our opponents. Those who haven�t yet decided will dismiss our claims out of hand if they see a glaring error in how we make them.

Of course, there are some �shalt nots� to observe, as well.

Let�s begin by agreeing to argue ideas, not attack people. In the same way, let�s not presume that we know another person�s motives or intentions. We can argue against President Barack Obama�s health care reforms without alluding darkly to his alleged intention to make America a socialist nation, for example.

And let�s leave overstatement out of the discussion altogether. Seriously. The Nazis remain our world�s clearest example of evil. Let�s not cloud that by throwing the word around, when it�s almost never appropriate. Last week, for example, Glenn Beck compared one of Obama�s speeches to Hitler�s speech on the Night of the Long Knives.

Really? That�s unworthy of serious political discourse.

You�ll be hearing more about the Civility Project in coming months. Unfortunately, you�ll also be seeing a plethora of examples of why it�s needed.

We can raise the bar. We just have to begin with ourselves.

  Roy Maynard, editorial page editor of the Tyler (Texas) Morning Telegraph, was one of the first editors to share what they told their readers about our efforts to restore civility in plural senses to U.S. political discourse. He is a board member for the Association of Opinion Journalists and a participant in the civility project, Civilitas: AOJ

The Masthead, published since 1948-49 by the National Conference of Editorial Writers, now the Association of Opinion Journalists. Winter 2012 published February 23, 2012, at opinionjournalists.org (c) 2012 AOJ