Good Night, and Good Luck

In the week following Keith Olbermann's departure from MSNBC, I find myself doing a bit of soul searching. The big issue of the moment is that I'm contemplating how people work together. How new people work with more seasoned people; how those that don't agree on certain points overcome those hurdles; what happens when people take things personally that really only have to do with policies or requirements?

It's an interesting process. I consider these things as I begin to watch the State of the Union address - a speech that will be given in a different Washington, D.C. One that I hope will bring people together, not tear them apart.

I feel honored to have worked in the Michigan Legislature for 5 years - the opportunity to see the times when people refused to work together; the times when people came together to get something accomplished; the times when the minorities on other side were shut out because they didn't have the same opinion as the majority.

I want to offer a reminder to everyone - no one is going to agree with everything someone else says. You don't have to. What we need to remember is that we NEED to keep things civil. We cannot accomplish anything worthwhile while tearing others down. I believe that we are capable of disagreeing without making personal attacks. I've seen all too often when people resort to personal attacks on good people.

After President Obama's speech last week, Senator John McCain wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post.

Below is what really hit me -

"Our political discourse should be more civil than it currently is, and we all, myself included, bear some responsibility for it not being so. It probably asks too much of human nature to expect any of us to be restrained at all times by persistent modesty and empathy from committing rhetorical excesses that exaggerate our differences and ignore our similarities. But I do not think it is beyond our ability and virtue to refrain from substituting character assassination for spirited and respectful debate."

I ask everyone, no matter what we are debating, to make it civil.