Civility: Tough, but not impossible

Civility in politics was once the norm. You might not agree, but you didn’t dismiss an opponent as morally bankrupt. Not anymore. I find it tough to be civil while public education is eviscerated, while my fellow citizens who are LGBTQ are vilified and treated like an atomic threat to girls’ basketball. Books are for reading or ignoring, not for banning. Voting is a right to be encouraged, not made more difficult. I am not as civil as I once was, and I regret that I have no choice.

Civility is when there is compromise, not with the arrogance of power, where it’s my way or the highway. But even with major differences, it is possible. I witnessed one example of that Involving two antagonists. Hubert Humphrey lost the presidential election in 1968 to Richard Nixon in the by less than 1 percent in the popular vote.

Humphrey had come from 18 percent behind after a chaotic Democratic convention. As we approached Election Day, there were peace talks in Paris between North and South Vietnam. A peace pact would have given Humphrey a popular victory and possibly an electoral one, too. Then Nixon, secretly, successfully had a friend sabotage the effort. The talks died as did at least 20,000 more Americans.

A decade later, Humphrey was dying of cancer. His family got him a Wide Area Telephone line. With that WATS line Humphrey called over 300 people to say goodbye. Most were friends, one was Richard Nixon. On Christmas Eve 1977, Nixon and His wife, Pat, at their home were both depressed. No family would be with them on Christmas Day. The next morning, Humphrey called again having been moved by the plaintive voice of his old enemy.

He told Nixon that his cancer was beyond treatment, and he would soon die. He also told Nixon there would be a memorial service in the rotunda of the Capitol. Humphrey insisted Nixon attend, his first visit since departing in disgrace. Nixon did, although pictures of him unsmiling, almost grimacing, as if his shorts were too tight. That emancipated him and he went regularly to D.C. after that. He was given a longer political life. Humphrey died about 10 days later.

That couldn’t happen today when compromise is a dirty word and civility one from an ancient language and no longer used. A shout of “liar” at a State of the Union address brings no shame or consequence. (I, absent civility, call people “fascists” with just a little hesitation when I think they deserve the label.)

Here in Iowa, civility is gone, possibly left in a girls’ locker room. Coming together on an issue seems an uncivil act to the governor, to Pat Grassley, to Republican Party leaders. They don’t seek civility and compromise, but dominance. That is not civility. That is not Humphrey inviting Nixon to his funeral service.

Gov. Kim Reynolds has the votes to do her will, but she should, as governor of the whole state, consider us all. That is the civilized thing to do. To rise above partisanship is possible. When Hubert Humphrey invited Richard Nixon to the rotunda, he gave up no principle he had lived by. He was being civil. Kim and Pat should try it.

Norman Sherman of Coralville has worked extensively in politics, including as Vice President Hubert Humphrey’s press secretary.