HOW WE SEE IT: Casting Others As Wicked A Loser For All

We owe a debt of gratitude to Sharon Lloyd of Springdale, chairwoman of Washington County’s Republican Women, for the very instructive statement she made last week to Davy Carter, the speaker-elect of the Arkansas House of Representatives.

Carter, a Republican, was in Springdale to meet with fellow GOP’ers and answer some tough questions. Carter angered a lot of Republicans by putting together a coalition of mostly Democrats to get himself elected speaker. He then hired two Democrats to staff positions for the upcoming session, raising the ire of rank-and-fi le Republicans - like Ms. Lloyd - even more.

Carter tried explained why he turned to Democrats for certain key staff jobs thisway possess procedural and parliamentary expertise that no one in his party has, since the GOP hasn’t been in the majority in the Arkansas Legislaturesince Reconstruction.

Carter also said he believes members of both parties will have to find ways to work together if Arkansas is to avoid the paralyzing partisanship that’s aft icts the federal government.

But some folks were still mad. And Ms. Lloyd, expressing her displeasure with Carter, said something noteworthy: “We (Republicans) have morals and convictions, and these guys (Democrats) do not.”

The statement caught our attention, not because it’s true, or insightful or funny. It’s none of those things. We noticed because it brings into sharp relief the poisonous nature of the current level of political discourse in this country. It is exactly the kind of fallacious generalization that inhibits good people with different ideas from doing good work.

Now, we don’t think Sharon Lloyd is a bad person. In fact, we believe, based on her position within her party, that she she’s a good person who, like the rest of us, wants what’s best for our region, state and nation.

But she’s wrong to assume that her party has cornered the market on morals and convictions.

Differences of opinion don’t establish someone else’s character fl aws.

Ms. Lloyd likely let frustration or anger get the best of her. But in an unguarded moment, her words defined one of the central challenges our state and nation face: the pervasive lack of respect for people with diff erent views.

It would be easy to blame the coarsening of our political culture on buffoons like Rush Limbaugh or know-it-all political snobs like Rachel Maddow, who take to the airwaves to demonize or degrade people who have diff erent ideas to the cheers of true believers. But, as much as they’d like to say differently, talking heads don’t have that much power. They reflect what’s going on in our culture. They don’t create it.

Somehow, it’s become more acceptable for Americans to draw horns and tails on the images of people who have diff erent ideas. It’s easier for people to remain secure in a particular set of opinions if those who challenge them are assigned nefarious motives. “Why, they don’t have any morals or convictions, so I don’t need to listen.”

This kind of blind polarization isn’t confi ned to conservatives. Liberals are just as bad. All make the same mistake as Ms. Lloyd by judging the content of someone’s character based solely on political labels. Once we start seeing each other as people rather than ominous caricatures, the sooner we’ll start moving toward solutions to our problems.

Opinion, Pages 5 on 12/19/2012

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