The political divide

Hillary Clinton recently said, “You cannot be civil with a political party that wants to destroy what you stand for, what you care about.”

The truth is, too many people on both sides of our political divide feel this way. Fortunately, however, only one person has been irresponsible enough to articulate it as official policy. Well, maybe two if you consider a presidential hopeful who’s advocating kicking his way to victory.

When you mischaracterize your political adversaries as enemies bent on your destruction, incivility seems like a reasonable response. A reasonable response that descends into mob action, vandalism and violence. Continuing to escalate this kind of behavior only invites more of the same. In a zerosum game, even the winners lose because of the terrible price they pay for their victory.

Your political “enemies” are often your friends (Facebook and otherwise), neighbors, coworkers and even family members. Believe it or not, Americans of all stripes have a lot more in common than our petty political differences would indicate.

Our founders fought for our freedom and independence to establish a framework for overcoming our differences without having to resort to another war. Generations of Americans since then have worked within that framework to hash out political squabbles and continuously improve our country. It’s not always a straight-line path, but it works.

By all means, advocate a position, argue your case and vote. You’ll win some, and you’ll lose some. Recognize that in defeat, the seeds of future victories are often sown. Upending the whole system like spoiled children losing a board game is not the answer, though. Promoting incivility, violence and revolution to win a political argument is a dangerous and irresponsible path to power, and those choosing this course should know better.

— Keith Liscio, Morton Grove