Jim Newton

Itasca

People still wonder how politics, personalities and religion have become such a volatile mix in the last decade. Politics and religion have always been “enter-at-your-own-risk” topics, but differing opinions used to coexist with tolerance. We didn’t pre-hate people for their political or spiritual views. What happened? I don’t know, but I have a theory.

For roughly 10 years, politicians, both local and national, have schooled us on what good governance is, and how to achieve it. Gradually, deliberation, once a hallmark of congressional discourse, was nudged out by partisan bickering, spite and general dissension.

Social media gets much of the blame for this rancor, but there’s more to it than that. The Internet enables us to consume a lot of information quickly. That shouldn’t stop us from discerning what we watch on TV or read online. For example, when a presidential candidate suggests that the late Senator and Navy pilot John McCain isn’t a war hero because he got shot down while serving in Viet Nam, our brains should scream: “Who else is running for president?” But they didn’t, and we’ve been shrugging off similar behavior ever since. Even a capitol breach doesn’t faze us.

Two Congresswomen just staged a grade-school spat over body-shaming. Appalling, but this is now par for the course.

A decade of sycophantic lawmakers, some claiming evangelical prowess, have educated us on their version of what is morally, and politically defensible. I’m not buying it.