Politics needs more civility, Mo. politicians tell WU crowd

| Editor in Chief

U.S. Reps. Russ Carnahan (D-St. Louis) at left and Jo Ann Emerson (R-Cape Girardeau), the two co-chairs of the Center Aisle Caucus, joined Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay (D-St. Louis) on campus Thursday in a conversation about how to make political discourse more civil.Matt Mitgang

U.S. Reps. Russ Carnahan (D-St. Louis) at left and Jo Ann Emerson (R-Cape Girardeau), the two co-chairs of the Center Aisle Caucus, joined Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay (D-St. Louis) on campus Thursday in a conversation about how to make political discourse more civil.

A bipartisan trio of Missouri congressmen came to campus Thursday to outline a course for political civility based on disagreeing in a more agreeable way.

U.S. Reps. Jo Ann Emerson (R-Cape Girardeau), Russ Carnahan (D-St. Louis) and William Lacy Clay (D-St. Louis) told a public forum in the Knight Center that the way politicians interact with one another holds major implications across political culture—from environmental policy to congressional potlucks.

And they said part of an increased lack of civility in politics stems from an increasingly polarized and sensationalistic news media.

“The media gives too much attention to negativity and fighting and not enough to conversations like this one,” Carnahan told the audience at the discussion, which was sponsored by the Danforth Center on Religion & Politics.

Civility in politics—or a lack thereof—has entered the national spotlight since U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) was shot and wounded severely during a public appearance in January.

In opening the panel, moderator Wayne Fields, the center’s founding director and a professor of English at Washington University, pointed to the recent shooting as a catalyst for the representatives’ conversation. But he also cited something more deeply ingrained in American culture—“a widely expressed longing for a more civil society, one in which our behavior is consistent with our most fundamental religious and civic values.”

Carnahan and Emerson are the co-chairs of the Center Aisle Caucus, a forum founded in 2005 to build relationships between members of both parties. They said the shooting had delivered a major wake-up call, one that made the caucus’s mission more important than ever.

Emerson emphasized the importance of a culture of civility within Congress, citing her close personal friendship with U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) and the weekly potlucks she hosts on Sundays for a group of five couples that include members of Congress from both sides of the aisle.

“I’ve learned how not to judge people based on how they vote,” Emerson said. “We have conversations about family and faith….Quite frankly, I love not talking politics.”

Emerson recounted a time when she and Wasserman Schultz appeared on the MSNBC show “Hardball” with Chris Matthews. Emerson said she and her friend managed to remain civil on the show, despite what she perceived as Matthews’ effort to incite a heated debate between the two. “I think it should be our responsibility to promote [civility] on those shows,” she said.

When Fields asked about the fast and often contentious pace of today’s media and the role of social media in democratic politics, the representatives responded that new media has become a powerful tool—but added that it has its limitations.

“People in new media, they tend to be self-selecting information that they don’t agree with, and a lot of times they’re not seeing the broader part of the debate,” Carnahan said. “Still, we’re seeing [new media] topple dictators and military forces across North Africa….We need to be involved in that. In democracy, it’s a tremendous tool.”

When Fields asked about the current protests in Madison over public-union rights legislation and about how to tackle hard issues with civility, all three representatives cited conversations they’d had in Congress about health care.

Emerson said open forums in Congress started by House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) have helped encourage civil dialogue on the issue.

But all three added that the civil parts of the debate over health-care reform in the previous Congress were overridden by contention, especially as the process was portrayed by the media.

“The process itself really got demonized throughout,” Carnahan said.

Senior Toby Shepard said that attending the event broadened her perspective on the way politicians interact.

“I thought it was interesting,” Shepard said. “I didn’t feel that any of them said anything particularly concrete or groundbreaking, and they didn’t necessarily do much in the way of coming up with solutions, but they definitely brought up important issues.”

Sophomore Anna Appelbaum agreed.

“As someone who considers herself to be very liberal, [I thought] it was especially interesting to listen to Jo Ann Emerson speak,” Applebaum said. “It drove home for me the point that civil discourse is incredibly important. Seeing her say things that I could agree with really spoke to what this entire event was trying to accomplish.”

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