“It is inaccurate to say that I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for public office.”
— H.L. Mencken
WILKES-BARRE — Someone once said that you can hear a lot just by listening.
That seems to be a spinoff from Yogi Berra, who once said, “You can observe a lot by just watching.”
And then there is this from Malcolm Forbes: “The art of conversation lies in listening.”
I got to thinking about all of these sage-like comments when I learned that the upcoming League of Women Voters of Wilkes-Barre is holding its annual Legislative Brunch on Saturday, March 22, and —so far — only two state legislators intend to attend.
Rep. Jim Haddock, D-Pittston Township, this week said he will attend the upcoming League of Women Voters event at Wilkes University. Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski, D-Wilkes-Barre, has also committed to be there.
“I have responded to the League I will attend,” said Haddock. “I attended last year as well. I feel events like this give myself a chance to learn what is on the mind of our community. Conversations like this forum provides is invaluable to me as a legislator.”
Well said, Rep. Haddock.
According to the League of Women Voters leadership, Haddock and Pashinski will be the only two state legislators at the forum — for the second straight year.
That is just unacceptable.
Some of the other state legislators have declined due to “other commitments,” while others didn’t even respond to the League’s invite.
Again, I will not mention names — you know who they are.
This political world we live in can not sustain itself. We have to find a way to get along and to resolve our differences in a manner that does not include constant arguing filled with the unmovable thought that both sides are always right.
We have to go back to the days when opposite opinions can — and should — be aired in a civil manner without fear of escalation.
Political discourse is one thing, but thanks to things like social media, voters no longer know what to believe. So, how do we ever get to the truth on any issue? We have to find the right path.
Political campaigns these days feature candidates who are more concerned about telling us why we shouldn’t vote for their opponents rather than telling us why we should vote for them. Issues no longer drive the selection process — shock, untruths and, yes, “fake news” is where we get our “information.”
We need to bring civility back — especially in our elective process.
The League of Women Voters brunch is the perfect place for this process to begin. All the legislators can be in the same room and discuss issues and respond to questions and explain how and why they support or oppose whatever issue is presented.
It can be done — we’ve seen them handle these forums before and they are always successful.
The dictionary defines civility as “civilized conduct, especially — courtesy, politeness. ‘We bemoaned the decline of civility in our politics.’”
Political discourse has always been a part of the process, but let’s face it, in recent years it has gotten way out of hand.
As I have said before, neither side can be correct all the time. You would expect then, that discussion, negotiation and compromise would be welcome in that process.
We actually are capable of disagreeing with each other without resorting to venomous attacks that are too often filled with not just disrespect and insult, but with threats as well.
There will always be sharp disagreement between the left and the right, between Republicans and Democrats. That’s the nature of the political beast.
But we have seen a sharp decline from spirited political debate to visceral, venomous screaming matches with both sides of the political spectrum guilty.
In today’s garden of cabbages and kings, we see few, if any, statesmen/stateswomen because we now live in an “us versus them” world.
We used to be better than that — and we must be again.