Political street fighters battle to restore civility
Former President Obama didn’t mince words denouncing “the politics of division” during a South Africa speech in July.
He asserted “People just make stuff up . ... We see it in the growth of state-sponsored propaganda. We see it in internet fabrications. We see it in the blurring of lines between news and entertainment. We see the utter loss of shame among political leaders when they’re caught in a lie and they just double down and they lie some more.”
“You have to believe in facts,” Obama continued. “Without facts, there’s no basis for cooperation.”
And there’s the late Sen. John McCain’s memorable final speech to the U.S. Senate last year. “Stop listening to the bombastic loudmouths on the radio and television and the internet. To hell with them,” he said. “Let’s trust each other . ... We’re getting nothing done.”
Polarization has poisoned politics from top to bottom — from ill-mannered President Trump down to uncivil shouting protesters inside the confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Social media was poisoned long ago and is worsened by the obsessively tweeting president.
So what can be done? Politics may not become civil again until the next generation of activists and leaders emerges.
At USC, two longtime political street fighters are working on it. Democratic strategist Bob Shrum and Republican guru Mike Murphy are heading up a new Center for the Political Future.
“The political divide is as stark as it’s been in modern memory and spans from the #resist movement on the left to #Make America Great Again on the right,” says the USC announcement of the ambitious effort.
Political pros will come in for civil debates and public policy discussions, showing students they don’t need to scream at each other to make their points. And without ticking off people, they can cooperate and work on solutions to today’s problems.
“We’re trying to expose students to civil, fact-based dialogue,” Shrum says. “Hopefully, the new generation will have a tolerance for different viewpoints and an intolerance for fact-free politics.”
He adds: “There’s an incredible interest in politics that has been spurred by Trump.”
The center will hold conferences on such topics as “the politics of climate change,” Shrum says. “I want to know, for example, what can be the private sector’s role. California has been leading the way on this.”
“We’ll also have a conference on tribalism and what drives people into tribes.”
There’ll be fellows — Republicans and Democrats — teaching classes on practical politics. They’ll use the USC Dornsife/ Los Angeles Times Poll as a research tool.
Murphy has worked on six presidential campaigns and managed several gubernatorial races — including Arnold Schwarzenegger’s in 2003. “When the voter fatigue really hits and Republicans are looking for something new because they’ve gotten clobbered … there’ll be an interest in new ideas,” he says.
Shrum has been an adviser for several Senate and gubernatorial candidates, was a speechwriter for Sen. George McGovern and Sen. Ted Kennedy and an adviser to Al Gore.
“We want people to not just respect each other, but respect the truth,” Shrum says.
Murphy says we’re “in a shouting bubble, where the other side isn’t just your opponent, but your enemy. … ‘I’m right and you’re evil. Everything you say is a lie.’ … Any compromise is evil and must be punished by the party tribe.”
Murphy says, “Politics has to be pretty awful to get professionals like us to become reformers.”