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Civility |
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Location: Blogs Brad's Blog |
 | | Posted by: Brad Miller | 1/25/2012 12:35 PM | I like to joke that after 15 years away from my role as professor of Political Science that I am now “in recovery.” We are firmly in that period of time I used to refer as “the silly season” where candidates stake their claims and do their best to court voters. But things have changed over the years. It is no longer the “silly season” but in my mind has become “the ugly season”. The news from various campaigns is full of candidates belittling the other candidate’s motives, actions and character. I wait to hear concrete plans for policy and practice and I hear nothing but sniping. Our governing bodies seem to have lost the ability to compromise or to work together to find solutions to problems, thereby sending a message loud and clear that WHO is right is more important than WHAT is right. And it makes me more than a little bit sad and I’d be lying if I said that it didn’t worry me a bit, too.
A lot of this was on my mind this morning as I heard the latest campaign news, the rehash of the State of the Union and the responses, and then turned to my Bible for my devotional. Here is the first thing I read: Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. This comes from the Ephesians 4: 29, and it is wonderful instruction. Not just for politicians who seem to be incapable of not attacking each other, but for you and me. Our words are not broadcast, but still, our words are important, our actions are watched by others, and people do listen to what we say. What if each of us made the instruction in this scripture our goal every day, in every interaction? What if we decided that we would not participate in the demise of civility and simply speak “only what is helpful for building up others…”? What if we held our politicians to the same standard? What if we interrupted them every time they attacked someone else and just kept saying, “Please just tell me what your ideas are and leave your opponent out of it”?
For years, political operatives have understood that negative campaigns are used because negative campaigns work. But only because we, the voters, allow it. I think it’s time to reach into our scripture and follow what the Apostle Paul instructed the church at Ephesus to do so very long ago. And it might help us to remind our politicians (and ourselves) that Ecclesiastes 10:12 also tells us the following: Words from a wise person’s mouth are gracious, but fools are consumed by their own lips. Hey, it’s in the Bible; you can look it up. | | | Permalink | Trackback |
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