An informal organization of former members of Congress, from both sides of the political aisle, has released a call for “a civil and productive 112th Congress.” They embrace the ideas of both partisanship and bipartisanship, but reject the politics of division and vilification.
Available at www.fmocforcommonground.org, the open letter from these former members of Congress includes the following passages:
Congress appears gripped by zero-sum game partisanship. The goal often seems to be more to devastate the other side (the enemy, no longer the honorable adversary) than to find common ground to solve problems, much less to have a spirited but civil debate about how to do so.
…
As partisan veterans, we join together to advocate a change in approach – a change in rhetoric and tone that can lead to a focus on problem-solving. This needs to begin now, especially as we head into the heat of the 2010 campaign.
A list of signatories appears below, and the group welcomes citizen petitioners as well — link here.
MM
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The Hon. James Abourezk (South Dakota)
The Hon. Bill Alexander (Arkansas)
The Hon. Jim Bacchus (Florida)
The Hon. Skip Bafalis (Florida)
The Hon. Mike Barnes (Maryland)
The Hon. Jim Bates (California)
The Hon. Berkley Bedell (Iowa)
The Hon. Helen Delich Bentley (Maryland)
The Hon. Jim Blanchard (Michigan)
The Hon. Sherwood Boehlert (New York)
The Hon. Lindy Boggs (Louisiana)
The Hon. Bill Brock (Tennessee)
The Hon. William Brodhead (Michigan)
The Hon. Glen Browder (Alabama)
The Hon. Jack Buechner (Missouri)
The Hon. Bill D. Burlison (Missouri)
The Hon. Yvonne Brathwaite Burke (California)
The Hon. Bev Byron (Maryland)
The Hon. Bo Callaway (Georgia)
The Hon. Bill Carney (New York)
The Hon. Bob Carr (Michigan)
The Hon. Dick Chrysler (Michigan)
The Hon. Bill Clinger (Pennsylvania)
The Hon. John B. Conlan (Arizona)
The Hon. E. Thomas Coleman (Missouri)
The Hon. George “Buddy” Darden (Georgia)
The Hon. Lawrence DeNardis, Ph.D (Connecticut)
The Hon. Tom Downey (New York)
The Hon. Bob Edgar (Pennsylvania)
The Hon. Jack Edwards (Alabama)
The Hon. Mickey Edwards (Oklahoma)
The Hon. Karan English (Arizona)
The Hon. Phil English (Pennsylvania)
The Hon. Ben Erdreich (Alabama)
The Hon. Dave Evans (Indiana)
The Hon. Victor Fazio (California)
The Hon. Geraldine A. Ferraro (New York)
The Hon. Michael P. Forbes (New York)
The Hon. Harold Ford Sr. (Tennessee)
The Hon. Bill Frenzel (Minnesota)
The Hon. Lou Frey (Florida)
The Hon. Martin Frost (Texas)
The Hon. Don Fuqua (Florida)
The Hon. Robert “Bob” Garcia (New York)
The Hon. Dan Glickman (Kansas)
The Hon. Frank J. Guarini (New Jersey)
The Hon. Gil Gutknecht (Minnesota)
The Hon. Chuck Hagel (Nebraska)
The Hon. John Paul Hammerschmidt (Arkansas)
The Hon. Orval Hansen (Idaho)
The Hon. Michael J. Harrington (Massachusetts)
The Hon. Dennis Hertel (Michigan)
The Hon. George Hochbrueckner (New York)
The Hon. Marjorie S. Holt (Maryland)
The Hon. Darlene Hooley (Oregon)
The Hon. Joan Kelly Horn (Missouri)
The Hon. Amo Houghton (New York)
The Hon. Jerry Huckaby (Louisiana)
The Hon. William “Bill” H. Hudnut III (Indiana)
The Hon. William J. Hughes (New Jersey)
The Hon. Earl Hutto (Florida)
The Hon. Ed Jenkins (Georgia)
The Hon. John Jenrette (South Carolina)
The Hon. James R. Jones (Oklahoma)
The Hon. William J. Keating (Ohio)
The Hon. Barbara B. Kennelly (Connecticut)
The Hon. Martha Keys (Kansas)
The Hon. Herb Klein (New Jersey)
The Hon. Scott Klug (Wisconsin) The Hon. Ray Kogovsek (Colorado)
The Hon. Jim Kolbe (Arizona)
The Hon. John J. LaFalce (New York)
The Hon. H. Martin Lancaster (N. Carolina)
The Hon. Larry LaRocco (Idaho)
The Hon. Jim Leach (Iowa)
The Hon. Jim Ross Lightfoot (Iowa)
The Hon. Jim Lloyd (California)
The Hon. Ken Lucas (Oklahoma)
The Hon. Bill Luther (Minnesota)
The Hon. Andrew Maguire (New Jersey)
The Hon. Marjorie Margolies (Pennsylvania)
The Hon. Dawson Mathis (Georgia)
The Hon. Romano L. Mazzoli (Kentucky)
The Hon. Mike McCormack (Washington)
The Hon. Matt McHugh (New York)
The Hon. C. Thomas McMillen (Maryland)
The Hon. Michael R. McNulty (New York)
The Hon. Daniel A. Mica (Florida)
The Hon. Bob Michel (Illinois)
The Hon. Enid Greene Mickelsen (Utah)
The Hon. Ab Mikva (Illinois)
The Hon. Dan Miller (Florida)
The Hon. Jim Moody (Wisconsin)
The Hon. Connie Morella (Maryland)
The Hon. Bruce A. Morrison (Connecticut)
The Hon. Lucien N. Nedzi (Michigan)
The Hon. George R. Nethercutt, Jr. (Washington)
The Hon. Mary Rose Oakar (Ohio)
The Hon. Bob Packwood (Oregon)
The Hon. Jerry M. Patterson (California)
The Hon. Douglas “Pete” Peterson (Florida)
The Hon. David D. Phelps (Illinois)
The Hon. John Porter (Illinois)
The Hon. Albert H. Quie (Minnesota)
The Hon. Tom Railsback (Illinois)
The Hon. Jim Ramstad (Minnesota)
The Hon. Jay Rhodes (Arizona)
The Hon. Marty Russo (Illinois)
The Hon. Martin Olav Sabo (Minnesota)
The Hon. Jim Santini (Nevada)
The Hon. Ron Sarasin (Connecticut)
The Hon. Tom Sawyer (Ohio)
The Hon. Lynn Schenk (California)
The Hon. Patricia Schroeder (Colorado)
The Hon. John J. H. “Joe” Schwarz (Michigan)
The Hon. Robert N. Shamansky (Ohio)
The Hon. E. Clay Shaw (Florida)
The Hon. David Skaggs (Colorado)
The Hon. Jim Slattery (Kansas)
The Hon. Lawrence J. Smith (Florida)
The Hon. Nick Smith (Michigan)
The Hon. Dr. Peter Smith (Vermont)
The Hon. Richard H. Stallings (Idaho)
The Hon. Richard Swett (New Hampshire)
The Hon. Jim Symington (Missouri)
The Hon. Tom Tauke (Iowa)
The Hon. Esteban Edward Torres (California)
The Hon. Robert A. Underwood (Guam)
The Hon. Pat Williams (Montana)
The Hon. Tim Wirth (Colorado)
The Hon. Lester L. Wolff (New York)
The Hon. Howard Wolpe (Michigan)
The Hon. Albert R. Wynn (Maryland)
The Hon. Leo C. Zeferetti (New York)
This sounds all well and good, and I would assume that many Americans would agree with the argument, but is civility, honesty, and respect amongst our politicians really a requirement for them to solve our national problems?
I would argue that, in fact, there is no correlation between politicians’ behavior and their ability to tackle our toughest problems. American politicians have always been uncivil, untruthful, and disrespectful towards each other: President Adams labeled President Jefferson an “atheist” and “coward,” Senator Sumner was beaten unconscious by another Senator who disagreed about with him on slavery, and President Roosevelt called his presidential rival a “fathead” and “puzzle wit.”
And, yet, despite our politicians’ desires to “devastate the other side,” they have tackled, and solved, major problems. There is little historical evidence to suggest that they won’t continue to do so.
http://articles.cnn.com/2008-08-22/living/mf.campaign.slurs.slogans_1_jefferson-family-sally-hemings-vice-president-jefferson?_s=PM:LIVING
http://politics.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2008/01/17/three-way-race-of-1912-had-it-all.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Sumner
I was intrigued by this posting because I am concerned that the tone of the current elections has heightened the likelihood that the 112th Congress will be even more polarized than the 111th. There are several factors that have contributed to the polarization of Congress over my lifetime. I came across this non-partisan report that outlined several of the changes in Congress that facilitated an increase in polarization and divisiveness in 1998 (www.cfr.org/content/publications/attachments/Bipartisan_CSR.pdf).
Unfortunately for all of us, the divisiveness and polarization has continued, and continues in the current elections. The themes of the anti-incumbent campaigns are not predicated on platforms of reaching across the aisle. They are focused, rather, on working against the current administration and Congress. One commentator recently advocated for “partisan warfare.” (See e.g. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/18/AR2010101805243.html).
Hopefully more of us will follow the lead of the former members of congress listed above, and demand more collaboration and creative problem solving from our elected officials, and discourage such divisive behavior.