Over the past couple of years, hot button issues such as immigration and health care reform coupled with a harsh economic climate led to a caustic political environment unseen since the Vietnam War. This dialogue finally received scrutiny due to the tragedy in Tucson, even though the incident seems to be an isolated event rather than a result of deep political rhetoric. It is still worth asking: Will anything change or will it be business as usual for this Congress?
The answer depends on which party is answering the question. Democrats are more than willing to tone down the rhetoric and foster a greater bipartisan agenda. A perfect case was Senate Democrat Richard Durbin’s plea to calm “toxic rhetoric” because it leads unstable people to believe violence is an acceptable action. Besides Sen. Durbin, dozens of politicians from Rep. John Lewis of Georgia to Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont echoed the need to calm the political rhetoric. Former President Bill Clinton, who dealt with the tragedy of the Oklahoma City bombing, told BBC that “no one intends to do anything that encourages this sort of behavior but political rhetoric falls on the unhinged and hinged alike” and that the political conversation should not be “degenerated into demonization.” Most of all, President Barack Obama led the way with his speech last week calling for civility. This is something we all can heed.
On the other hand, Republicans do not feel as inclined to tone down the vitriolic rhetoric.
The only one to make any significant amends is prospective 2012 Republican presidential contender Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota. In a move to win over whatever few moderate Republicans still vote in primaries, he criticized Sarah Palin’s use of crosshairs on a map that targeted Congresswoman Gifford’s Arizona Eighth District. Many others such as Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, talk show host Rush Limbaugh and former Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin decided to take the irresponsible route and shirk blame for using caustic language, rather than offer condolences and find a means to have a more civil discussion in the future.
This should come as no surprise the lion’s share of the party is not inclined to calming the language and refraining from using pejoratives such as “Obamacare”, “anchor baby” and “death panels” in order to rouse their base into a frenzy. The sad part is they may their base fueling this kind of dialogue. According to a recent Gallup poll, an overwhelming amount of individuals who describe themselves as ‘very conservative’ and ‘conservative’ feel that it is more important for their political leaders to stick to their beliefs than to compromise. The opposite is true for self-identified moderates and liberals.
In terms of bipartisan agreements, it appears the Republicans are agreeing with the Democrats
when it comes to filibuster reform. During the lame duck session, they managed to repeal “don’t ask, don’t tell” as well as ratify the START treaty. Hopefully, the Republicans will cooperate and not follow Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s goal of making President Obama a one-term president at any cost.
The events that have transpired should foster bipartisan solutions to the problems that truly matter: reducing unemployment, increasing our exports, reforming our tax code, and encouraging a more sensible political debate without fear mongering and “false truths.” However, it seems this is a dream that will fade into the past as Congress gets down to business.
Chad Mohammed is a second-year chemical engineering student. His column appears on Thursdays.
