Some thoughts on our political climate.

[Stevicus]

But what positions were your family members supporting? What did they disagree on?

I don't remember everything they argued about, although I do recall some heated arguments over Vietnam, pot-smoking hippies - stuff like that. My grandparents were Southern Democrats who moved to California, where my mother and aunt were born - and they became staunch liberal Democrats of the kind often associated with that state. That made for some rather interesting family dinners. My father's side of the family were from the Midwest and far more conservative, although they always believed that family was more important than politics.

Edit: what I'm getting at is that civil discourse is predicated on the assumption that the ideas being discussed are civil. It's one thing to have different ideas on, say, the best policies to encourage economic growth, but it's a different matter to not express outrage at, say, lynchings back in the day or locking kids in cages as a general policy today. On both issues, only one side is being civil in the first place, so only one side is entitled to a civil response.

Also remember: 20-30 years ago, a family dinner table probably also had at least one person at it who travelled to another continent to kill fascists. Speaking of fascists in disparaging terms kinda pales by comparison.

Well, yes, when you're talking about fascists on another continent - that's another matter. If we're talking about the more homegrown varieties of fascism here in the U.S., both past and present, then it hits a bit closer to home. As I said, my maternal grandparents were originally Southern Democrats, but they would express outrage about lynchings. They were against the KKK, but then again, they still were raised and conditioned to support the basic structure of US society as it existed at the time they were born. While their views softened considerably as they grew older, it was really all over the US, not just in the South. My paternal grandparents were Northern Republicans, and they would also be just as outraged over lynchings and the KKK (some of my ancestors from that side of my family were also Abolitionists). But they also had some odd ideas about race, politics, and national patriotism that might appear to border on fascism.

And yes, they'd go out and kill fascists, communists, terrorists, or anyone else whom they were convinced was an enemy of America, enemy of freedom, a threat to our way of life. And it's the "convincing" part which seems to be an integral part of what politics is all about.

Both sides have proudly and loudly proclaimed that they're all about supporting and protecting American values and ideals - freedom, democracy, human rights. They all say these things, and in theory, some of them might even actually believe in those ideals.

But then one of the apparent goals in political discourse is to expose the other side as hypocrites or not really believing in the ideals they claim to uphold. Oftentimes that happens within political factions as well, with some of the more ardent, zealous fanatics chiding those who don't seem quite so dedicated or fanatical as the "true believers."