Ugly Americans
American politicians no longer politely agree to disagree. On that, participants in a panel talk Friday at the John F. Kennedy Forum all concurred. On whether there was any chance this would change, there was dispute. Politely, if passionately, expressed. The lack of civility in American discourse, panelists said, was part of a larger landscape of diverseness and rancor, fueled by economic anxiety, the antics of reality TV, and the rhetoric of talk radio. “We’ve lost respect for each other,” said Jim Leach, chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, during a conversation with former directors of the Institute of Politics (IOP) — “Civility in Politics: Is There Hope?” “When was the last time you heard a politician saying, ‘I’m for the common good.’ Instead, they’re saying, ‘I’m for this interest,’ ” said Leach, IOP director from 2007 to 2008. Still, as Phil Sharp, president of Resources for the Future and IOP director from...