We Cannot Do Democracy Without Civility
                                                     Dr. David Coombs, Ed.D., MFC

    We cannot do democracy without civility. In most elections, nearly half of the voters do not like how the election turned out. This article is not an argument for or against the out-comes of elections. What should concern us all is the intense hatred, crudeness, crass behavior, and destructive riots. Vile criticism, false information, and distorted news flows without restraint from the media which is tearing this country apart. While we have always had contentious debates, this time they appear more extreme.
    Emmylou Harris, popular singer and song writer said, “As citizens we have to be more thoughtful and more educated and more informed. I turn on the TV and I see these grown people screaming at each other, and I think, well, if we don’t get our civility back we’re in trouble.”
     The constitution gives citizens the freedom to march in the streets, to carry placards, (even when they are obscene and vulgar), to gather in peaceful assemblies to express their frustration. But that law does not give them the right to riot, to destroy public and private property, to burn cars, to smash windows, and beat-up voters who voted against their candidate.
    Across our nation, citizens are behaving irresponsibly and irrationally.  Where is the mature and reasonable thinking that we would expect from members of a democracy that is based on a constitution that guarantees the rights and freedoms of all citizens.
    Are we not a civilized nation that knows how to channel our feelings of discontent? Can we not disagree without, not only being disagreeable, but without demonizing and annihilating those who think differently?
    Our nation fought a Civil War in which over 600,000 thousand American citizens lost their lives because of a war of words that got out of control. People were proud; when they were offended and their ideas were rejected, they justified a response with swords, guns, and cannons. Fathers fought against their sons; brothers murdered their brothers; families were torn apart, and for what? Couldn’t we have resolved the slavery issue without going to war?
    Kevin Stirtz, popular author, stated, “To work best democracy needs a diversity of thoughts, ideas, and expression. This is only possible with freedom and civility.”
     When we disagree and have strong feelings, we must learn to discipline our language and our behavior to maintain decorum. Failing to do so has already lead to civil strife.
    In 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln, called upon our nation for a day of fasting and prayer. He said the nation was being punished for their sins because they had “forgotten God.” President Lincoln stated that our nation had become “too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!” He admonished the nation to humble themselves, “to confess our national sins, and pray for clemency and forgiveness.”
    We today must pray for our elected leaders, both local and national, and do all we can to aid them to be successful in the offices which they hold. Their success will be our success. Pray for the families in our country, pray that parents will their raise children in an atmosphere of love, kindness, and civility. Let there be no ugly rhetoric in our homes as we speak of our leaders.
    Samuel Johnson, Oxford scholar and English Statesman of the 1700s stated, “When once the forms of civility are violated, there remains little hope of return to kindness or decency.”       
    We are a Christian nation, “one nation, under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” Unity helps us preserve our democracy on which our freedoms depend. We must do our part to minimize ranker and civil strife both in our homes and in the public square.
(Quotes from this article came from an online source “Quotes on Civility.”)