Calls for civility

Not to be confused with weakness

“One of the best arguments for civility, the real thing, is that it sharpens criticism by delivering it gracefully, exactly, on point. The way a stiletto strikes home. Incivility is just another verbal ax anybody can use. It requires little precision and less thought, and American politics already has quite enough of that, thank you.”

— Paul Greenberg

Gov. Asa Hutchinson may not be the best person to call for civility among the political class. You notice he made little news. For what’s news about a civil person in politics calling for civility? This is not exactly a man-bites-dog moment. Asa Hutchinson’s reputation is civility. As they say in these latitudes, he was raised right. And it shows.

For making news, it would be better to have a real fire-breather call for civility. Somebody who’s often wrong but rarely in doubt. Somebody who does all his real work (and thinking) on Twitter. Somebody who’s in the papers on frequent occasion but only because he so frequently makes outrageous comments and supports insulting legislation.

Arkansas has no shortage of that breed. It just doesn’t happen to have many desks in the governor’s office these days.

Asa Hutchinson made the inside pages this week by telling a national network that even his fellow Republicans who exacerbate divisions in this country ought to be called out. Whether it’s some congressman sharing an animated video of a violent act against a colleague, or a congresswoman comparing another congresswoman to terrorists, these comments have embarrassed most of us.

Of course, it might be easier to embarrass a sofa than some of the partisans in Congress these days.

“It has to be dealt with,” Gov. Hutchinson told CNN. And he asked for improvement in civil discourse.

What he didn’t say is that you have to be weak in your political beliefs to do that. Of all the people we’ve ever known in this life, our friend Paul Greenberg was as civil as anybody could hope to be. But did anybody think him weak in his beliefs? Being civil isn’t the same as being fragile. (The great Mahatma Gandhi disliked the phrase “passive resistance.” Non-violent resistance wasn’t necessary passive at all.)

And all you have to do is read certain blogs in Arkansas, or even certain letter writers to this newspaper, to know that Asa Hutchinson fights when his beliefs require it. But he fights in the manner of a gentleman fighting a duel, not in the manner of a longshoreman clearing out a waterfront saloon. (That’s Mencken, who was frequently quoted by Mr. Greenberg.)

But Asa Hutchinson’s call for civility came with a strange aftertaste. That is, there was no “For example, see … .” Usually when a politician calls for civility, he or she has somebody in mind who really ought to know better. The American people hear this all the time. If a criticism hits too close to home, some politician — crocodile tears at the ready — bemoans the loss of civility in the American experiment, especially from the punks on the other side who really should know better than to attack (a) my family, (b) my finances, (c) my comments.

Asa Hutchinson didn’t appear to relish the opportunity to use his call for civility as just another political zinger to be shot over the ground-troops into the other ranks. He’s an odd politician. Especially these days. For which we can all be proud of our state.

But is civility too much to ask for these days? If Asa Hutchinson is an odd politician, what does that say about civil discourse? Is what the Brits call good form, and the Americans call sportsmanship, an old-fashioned concept, like standing when a woman enters a room? Or maybe tricorns?

Someone once said that a person who curses frequently erodes the effect of the worst words. Because if a body curses every time his left foot hits the ground, what’s he supposed to say when he hits his thumb with a hammer? By then, all the good words have been used.

Same with rudeness and effrontery. When they are really needed — and sometimes they most definitely are — how can anybody take them seriously if they are used Every. Single. Time? Catch a civil person being rude in public, and you might assume the target had it coming, in spades.

To some of our elected officials — in the Arkansas Legislature, in the U.S. Congress — civility seems to be a sign of weakness. And to be less than civil is the best way to re-election.

That says a lot about us as Americans. And nothing good.