2/6/2020 - Laura Hollis Townhall.com
Anyone
who has watched the English Parliament debate knows that -- ceremonial forms of
address notwithstanding -- they can be a fairly raucous bunch, routinely
shouting down opposing speakers, yelling out, "Hear, hear!" and even
booing with some regularity. This includes events at which the prime minister
speaks before Parliament.
By
contrast, debate in the United States Congress tends to be a comparatively
staid and polite affair. (There have been notable exceptions. For example, in
1856, then-Rep. Preston Brooks, a pro-slavery Democrat from South Carolina,
assaulted then-Sen. Charles Sumner, an abolitionist Republican from
Massachusetts, hitting him repeatedly in the head with a heavy metal-topped
cane, nearly killing him.)
Opportunities
for the president of the United States to address Congress are treated as
events warranting the greatest decorum. Consider 2009, when
then-President Barack Obama addressed a joint session of Congress to defend his
health care proposal. Joe Wilson, a Republican representative from South
Carolina, infamously yelled out, "You lie!" This outburst was viewed
by politicians (on both side of the aisle) and pundits alike as a grievous
breach of propriety. Wilson apologized to President Obama and received an
official reprimand by the House of Representatives.
As
with so many other things, the courtesy and professionalism we expect of our
elected officials is waning in the era of President Donald Trump, replaced by
unceasing ire and outrage. This week's State of the Union address was a sad
example. Some Democrats such as Reps. Maxine Waters and Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez simply refused to attend. Other Democrats refused to stand when
the president entered the chamber. During Trump's speech, large numbers of
Democrats yelled loudly to interrupt him. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in a
shocking departure from protocol, did not introduce the president with the
traditional honorarium -- "I have the high privilege and distinct honor of
presenting to you the president of the United States." Instead, she said
merely, "Members of Congress, the president of the United States."
Pelosi
then mumbled to herself, chewed her lip, rifled through papers and made
sourpuss faces throughout the entire speech. But the grossest breach of
professional etiquette was at the end of Trump's speech. As soon as the
president concluded, amid the applause from (most of) those in attendance,
Pelosi made a point of standing up, ripping her paper copy of Trump's speech in
two and tossing the pieces on the desk in front of her in an open gesture of
disgust.
The
social media universe went nuts, and it was not just Republican and
conservative viewers who were appalled. A number of self-described Democratic
voters called C-SPAN to express their disapproval of Pelosi's antics. George
Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley (himself a Democrat) issued
a scathing condemnation of Pelosi's conduct, calling her behavior
"extremely petty and profoundly inappropriate": "Pelosi seemed
to be intent on mocking President Trump from behind his back with sophomoric
facial grimaces and head shaking, culminating in her ripping up a copy of his
address. ... (S)he tore up something far more important than a speech. Pelosi
has shredded decades of tradition, decorum and civility that the nation could
use now more than ever. ... If Pelosi cannot maintain the dignity and neutrality
of her office at the State of the Union, she should resign as the speaker of
the House of Representatives."
Democrats'
excuse, of course, is that they despise Trump, that he has been impeached
("for life," in Pelosi's words), and that he does not deserve their
respect.
There
are at least two problems with that rationale. First, it is the office
that warrants respect, whatever one's differences may be with the person who
occupies it.
But
more seriously (in my view, at least), congressional Democrats have let their
loathing of Trump spill over into their views of Americans generally. Much has
been made of the fact that Democrats in attendance refused to stand or applaud
in response to the good economic news of record-low unemployment rates for
black and Hispanic Americans, veterans, women and the disabled; record-low
rates of poverty for black Americans; and a trade deal that enjoys the support
of America's labor unions. Nor did Democrats show any sympathy or support for
Janiyah Davis, a fourth grader and the child of a single mother, for whom Trump
announced an Opportunity Scholarship; or for the family of Rocky Jones,
murdered by an illegal immigrant who was shielded from deportation by sanctuary
policies.
Minorities,
women, union workers, single parents -- these are supposed to be Democrats'
natural constituencies. If you cannot celebrate the betterment of your fellow
citizens' circumstances because they were improved by policies advanced by your
political opponent, then you are an ideologue and a fraud.
It's
unclear whom Democrats think they are winning over with this self-serving
petulance. There is already a #WalkAway movement of disgruntled former
Democrats. And African American activist Candace Owens, with her
"Blexit" advocacy, is peeling away black support from Democrats.
Owens argues that Democrats don't really want minorities or the poor to
succeed; their behavior at the State of the Union makes her claims that much
more credible.
We
are still far from the acrimony that prompted Preston Brooks to attempt the
murder of Charles Sumner in 1856. But the Wikipedia entry states that the
attack "contributed significantly to the country's polarization over the
issue of slavery" and is considered a precursor to "the 'breakdown of
reasoned discourse' and the use of violence that eventually led to the American
Civil War."
It
is not absurd to worry whether the ongoing breakdown of political propriety and
reasoned discourse in our own age poses a similar threat.
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