Civility is about more than just politeness, although politeness is a necessary first step.

“Civility is about more than just politeness, although politeness is a necessary first step. It is about disagreeing without disrespect, seeking common ground as a starting point for dialogue about differences, listening past one’s preconceptions, and teaching others to do the same. Civility is the hard work of staying present even with those with whom we have deep-rooted and fierce disagreements. It is political in the sense that it is a necessary prerequisite for civic action. But it is political, too, in the sense that it is about negotiating interpersonal power such that everyone’s voice is heard, and nobody’s is ignored.
And civility begins with us.” - TOMAS SPATH AND CASSANDRA DAHNKE

Next Tuesday, November 8, many of us will practice our civic duty and find a polling place where we will select our representatives for county, state and federal positions, as well as opposing or supporting a local referendum. Many more, will shun this responsibility by not voting thus allowing those who do to have a greater voice in selecting our leaders, and our future. I would imagine that there are many reasons that people will give for why they don’t participate in the electoral process, and I would venture to say that one of the major reasons for their absence from the voting process, is their disenchantment with how candidates and elected representatives spend the majority of their time degrading, demeaning and most of the time misrepresenting their opponents.

If you ask your friends and neighbors what they think of the current campaign, I would venture to say that most will respond by saying, “I can’t wait until November 8th has come and gone, so that I don’t have to see another one of these political commercials. I would add that it is not just the commercials we see on television or through social media,this negative projection of one’s opponent takes place here at the local level, where important issues seem to get lost in the angry diatribes of opposing groups. While this behavior seems to be part of our political history, there seems to be more evidence that this antagonistic projection of one’s opponent is getting worse, causing many to simply tune out the entire process. Civility in general, be it our election process or how legislators interact appears to be on the decline, and I am intrigued by Cullen Hightower’s statement that “after our ages-long journey from savagery to civility, let’s hope we haven’t bought a round-trip ticket.”

I believe the solution to this lack of civility lies with all of us in role modeling civility at our local level where “if somebody is abusive or obnoxious, we may decline to participate in further conversation, but we don't retaliate or attempt to make them suffer. And we try really hard not to give in to the overwhelming feeling that arguments must be won - and opponents destroyed - if we want to protect our own status or sense of worth.” (Michael Austin)

I wish all of you well as we approach this final week prior to the election; win or lose, I hope that those who opposed one another or took an opposite stand on an issue can come to some common understanding that while they disagreed, they will not allow the outcome to keep us from working together for the common good.