I know that it’s foolish to wish for the “good old days”. Makes me feel like Walter Brennan (“Gran-pappy Amos, the head of the clan, roars like a lion but he’s gentle as a lamb”) in the 50’s TV series The Real McCoys, thumping around on his gimpy leg, complaining to Luke about what has changed for the worse down at The Grange meetings.
Or like someone in the old Broadway show “Flower Drum Song”, complaining about “what’s the matter with kids these days!”.
My childhood memories are just that, the memories of a child, blissfully unaware of the controversies and hostilities of the times in which I grew up. As an adult, I now know that the 1950’s and 1960’s were hardly a period of “simple peace and harmony”, as they say in Fiddler on the Roof.
But for me as a kid, it was a time of Captain Kangaroo, Roy Rogers, I Love Lucy, My Three Sons, The Wonderful World of Disney, and the like. And it wasn’t just entertainment that was different. So was the news. I can’t imagine Walter Cronkite broadcasting the kinds of blatant lies, half truths, and propaganda that pass for news “nowadays”.
I was fortunate to get an outstanding education. In elementary school, junior high, and high school I learned civics and social studies.
I learned about the structure of the government at the state and federal levels, the Constitution of the United States, the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, American and European History, southeast Asia, even the history of reconstruction in Japan after WWII. Not to mention the usual math, science, English, French, literature, and music.
I attended an outstanding University, where every Freshman had to take two semesters of P & R - Philosophy, Religion, & Drama. That’s every Freshman. A basic background in the cornerstones of Western civilization - thought, faith, and dramatic expression - as well as non-western cultures. I continued with course work in Philosophy, Religion, History, Literature, Psychology, Biology, and Chemistry.
At all levels, I learned the importance of critical thought, civil discourse, differences of outlook and opinion, and the thoughtful consideration of seemingly conflicting ideas in the pursuit of what is true - or at least what is workably close to truth - even those ideas you might not be inclined to hear or accept.
That is the magic of America. That’s how it works. That is how we can all call ourselves Americans, no matter who we voted for, or where we originated. That’s how a civilization not only survives, but thrives. I accepted this perspective as a common understanding which was universally accepted.
Silly me.
Of course, there were things like the Viet Nam War and the battle for Civil Rights. I marched against the war, and I demonstrated my support for the struggle for Civil Rights.
But I could never go as far as some did in the rhetoric they used. I remember being at a rally where the chant was “Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?”. This disgusted me. Did they really think that LBJ sat in the White House gleefully counting the dead? Disagree, protest, even vehemently, but since when do we demonize?
No matter how I felt about the War, Johnson was the President of the United States. Show some respect for the Office, if not the man. Same thing with Nixon. Boy, was I glad to see him go, but he was the President - and respect for that Office I considered a civic obligation, no matter how I felt about the occupant, because without that we place the Nation at risk.
Today it seems so different.
College students, when asked about the Constitution, don’t know what the Bill of Rights is, and express disdain for the right of free speech. They don’t know what Checks and Balances are, and the responsibilities of the respective branches of government.
Respect for institutions, people, and different ideas is not considered a virtue. Speakers are violently driven off campus. and college administrations condone it. Facts don’t matter. There are crazies at every extreme and the middle is scattering for cover.
Both extremes hate lots of people. Where did these people grow up? Certainly not in the bubble of fairness and brotherhood that I grew up in. What’s so inspiring about hate, anyway?
Hate feels horrible.
Whatever happened to working out our differences so that we could find a middle ground that is a better alternative for most people?
I naively believe that at some point, it did exist. Perhaps only grudgingly, since many of the Founding Fathers couldn’t stand one another. They fought, and argued, and debated (and slandered), but somehow they compromised for what they saw as the common good. Is that even possible in our time?
Governing has become a pissing contest about who can beat up who without having to take any real responsibility for anything, and blaming the inevitable disaster on the other guy. Maybe it was always this way, but I don’t think so.
In our time, nothing seems to be considered too low to say or do in pursuit of “winning”. Well, maybe it was this bad in the lead-up to the Civil War. Like Charles Sumner being beaten unconscious with a cane on the floor of the Senate - by another Senator!. Is that where we’re heading? If so, I am glad I won’t be in America to see it.
Unless the purveyors of invective get back on their meds, I am honestly afraid that the result will be political violence. And then where will we be? Who will be better off?
When there are political figures and Members of Congress who openly encourage harassment of opponents, and announce an end to civil discourse and debate, what other possible outcome is there?
As Dorothy observed in The Wizard of Oz, “Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.”
Or is it just me?
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