Politics More Criminal Than Civil

After the unusually civil debate between Vice President Al Gore and Republican vice presidential nominee Jack Kemp last fall, a talk-radio host in Tampa, Fla., reportedly sputtered, “These people who talk about civility, they should all be shot in the head.”

Maybe this is what President Clinton means when he decries “the politics of personal destruction.”

American politics are less civil than they should be - and that’s not the worst of it.

I don’t claim any moral superiority here. I’m the guy who once labeled Bob Dole “the Metamucil kid,” who said Republican Party National Chairman Haley Barbour reminded me of Arnold Ziffel, the pig on “Greenacres.” David Broder, dean of the Washington press corps, accused my profession of debasing the dialogue of democracy. So I called him a “gasbag.” (That sure set him straight.) Clearly, I think the system - and the participants - are hardy enough to withstand a little name-calling.

American politics have always been rough. As Michael Farquhar has noted in The Washington Post, George Washington was accused of “debauching” the nation, and Abraham Lincoln was called “Ignoramus Abe,” a despot and a liar. Thomas Jefferson was called a traitor, and Andrew Jackson was accused of being a drunken, ignorant adulterer.

And yet, common sense tells us that politics today are nastier than in our parents’ day - for three reasons.

First, mass communication brings every charge, no matter how salacious or mendacious, to hundreds of millions of people, ruining reputations in the blink of an eye.

Second, our victory in the Cold War has reduced the need to make our leaders into heroic figures.

But there’s another trend - without historical precedent - that is destroying civility in our politics: the criminalization of political differences.

Politics today don’t end with fights about policy disagreements - or even with personal attacks. Politics only begin there.

Nowadays, political combatants routinely impugn the very moral fiber of their opponents. Think about the slogan of the Dole-Kemp campaign: “A Better Man for a Better America.” Not better policies, programs or positions. A better man.

Once you’ve moved from the policy to the personal, it’s not a very far step to the criminal.

There are plenty of people in my party who move with astonishing speed from the policy criticism, “Newt Gingrich is wrong on Medicare,” to the personal attack, “Newt Gingrich is a no-good bum who dumped his wife in a cancer ward and didn’t pay child support,” to the criminal accusation, “Newt is a crook. Get a rope.”

I’ve run campaigns in Europe and South America, and I remember feeling smug when my clients joked nervously that they would be going to prison if the opposition got in power. But here in America, we let the losers prosecute the winners.

Honest Republicans must admit that the hounding of Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton is based on partisan politics rather than a neutral pursuit of the truth.

Honest Democrats must confess that if Newt Gingrich had not committed the sin of winning the House of Representatives for his Republican Party, the speaker might not have faced charges of ethical violations.

This trend already has had plenty of tragic consequences. Who can forget the haunting plea of Raymond Donovan, hounded out of President Reagan’s Cabinet, then later acquitted of all charges? “Where do I report to get my good name back?”

Or who can forget the final fragmentary notes left by Clinton White House official Vince Foster, who observed that in Washington, ruining lives and reputations is considered sport?

I have more friends than I can count with legal bills in the hundreds of thousands of dollars - people who are not accused of any wrongdoing. They’re just caught up in the scandal machine, like so many dolphins trapped in a tuna drift net.

The ease with which the supposedly neutral prosecutorial apparatus is manipulated should give us all pause.

Until we back away from using prosecution and scandal as just another tool in the arsenal of demagoguery, our politics will continue to be less civil and more criminal.

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