The (good?) old days

People say our country is divided now more than ever. And members of Congress are always at each other’s throats. Every now and then we’re reminded that our betters are only “at each other’s throats” figuratively. Things could always be worse.

You may have seen the video. (You can click on it in the middle of this article.) Lawmakers in Turkey got into a brawl last week, and unlike the moves on Wrestlemania, this stuff wasn’t choreographed. Legislators in the Grand National Assembly threw punches, and one guy even appeared to jump off a chair into his opponent. Where’s the ref when you need one?

A disagreement over the country’s involvement in Syria sparked the fisticuffs, and like a bad highway accident, you just can’t help but rubberneck while the video plays.

There’s a lesson to be learned here. Our congressional leaders take pot shots at each other all the time. Sometimes their zingers could use a little work. But for the most part, things stay in the verbal arena.

This wasn’t always the case. You may recall Rep. Preston Brooks beating Sen. Charles Sumner with a cane in 1856. Mr. Brooks kept hitting his colleague until the cane broke. Our Legislature is no stranger to violence: In 1837, Arkansas House Speaker John Wilson stabbed another state rep to death during a legislative dispute on the floor.

See? The present isn’t as fierce as some claim it to be, at least here in America. Let’s keep it that way.