Wanted: Respectful debate

In the nearly 37 years I have been in Israel and eligible to vote, I have always voted. At times, I could not make up my mind for whom to vote until I got to the voting booth, but now I’m in a real quandary. It seems from your recent coverage that politics is becoming dirtier – less about the welfare of the state and its people and more about the acquisition of power

In The President is Missing by Bill Clinton and James Patterson, part of a speech made by the fictional US president to Congress, struck me as being particularly – and sadly – appropriate to us:

“Our democracy cannot survive its current downward drift into tribalism, extremism and seething resentment. Today it’s ‘us versus them…’ Politics is little more than blood sport. As a result, our willingness to believe the worst about everyone outside our own bubble is growing, and our ability to solve problems and seize opportunities is shrinking. We have to do better. We have honest differences. We need vigorous debates. Healthy skepticism is good. It saves us from being too naïve or too cynical. But it is impossible to preserve democracy when the well of trust runs completely dry.”

Shlomo Pioterkovsky wrote recently that one of the difficult problems of the Israeli debate is that there are lies on both sides. He advocates dealing with the issues on which we are divided by means of genuine and respectful debate rather that lies and division.

Who can argue with that? IAN BANKS Bet Shemesh