Larry D. Lauer

Democrats won the House and Republicans retained the Senate… a virtual tie.

However, the president held a press conference where he declared victory for himself, offered the possibility of working with Democrats in the House, but quickly followed by reprimanding fellow Republicans by name who asked that he not help them, and warned Democrats that if they launched investigations he would retaliate. Later in the day he fired his Attorney General and replaced him with a political supporter inclined to limit or end Robert Mueller’s investigation.

So is a unified legislature and country even possible? From a communication perspective unity requires ongoing interaction. The problem with Congress is that legislators no longer care about getting to know each other. They aim to win, not to govern as nonpartisan statesmen. As a result, they generally travel home on Thursdays to avoid each other, and no longer move their families to Washington.

Unity requires a business-like openness to new and innovative ideas. It requires respect for each other’s backgrounds and an honest curiosity about what different cultural experiences can bring to the discussion. What works best is a pattern similar to many conferences… work hard in meetings, consider everyone’s ideas, and then adjourn to social receptions and dinners. A combination of business and social interaction that often included family members, is what legislative life was like in Washington in the past.

And when it comes to the news media, a similar pattern of business combined with mutual respect and occasional “get to know each other” events and meetings works best. But when politicians simply label the press fake news for their own combative benefit, and reporters respond with tougher and tougher questions, division is magnified and any possibility of mutual understanding is undermined.

In the real world peace maintenance requires finding at least a semblance of win-win solutions. And a genuine desire for stability is necessary in diplomacy. But when one side declares war, communication strategy shifts from finding common ground to winning at any cost. Media become weapons, divisions become permanent, and winners take all. My fear is that the president has already set up the inevitably of two more years of political warfare and dangerous division.

We now live in a media-ecosystem where constantly repeated lies sound true, vicious personal attacks abound, and celebrated experts disagree on everything. The accumulated impact of all this on the nation’s culture is deep social divisions, dangerous feelings of anger, increasing acts of hostility, and growing voter confusion.

Gerald Seib, Washington Bureau Chief for the Wall Street Journal, offered that no matter the election outcome, Mr. Trump already owns the soul of the Republican Party. My concern, however, is more for the soul of the American people!

Candidates who support the president have rationalized that they can overlook his cruelty and lies because they support his policies. They accept that ends justify any means, and are willing to overlook that it’s the “means” that establish the country’s cultural norms. And many candidates on the other side don’t seem to understand that counterattacks only widen social divisions. What is needed from each party is an inspirational and unifying vision that is grounded in our country’s founding ideas of freedom, opportunity, and justice for all. In the past, if one party doesn’t provide that, the recourse has been to vote for the other.

Anyone who ever studied communication knows that words really do matter. CEO’s and presidents have the power to choose to be a force for the common good, or a force that stirs angry passions, or a force that calms when events require. The problem is that this president doesn’t have enough empathy to know what’s appropriate. As a result, he awkwardly reads the few sensible scripts that are written for him, and then quickly reverts to the only style he knows… that of a dramatic television entertainer. Once he get’s started, the only material he has is what he makes up. He never had the patience to study social issues, and never paid attention in history class.

Sadly, the only solution I see is at the ballot box. A BIG surprise in the election next Tuesday could be the catalyst needed for some immediate change. Not that one party is the victor over the other, but rather that maybe all this election mess will convince both parties to finally make the system work more respectably.

Beyond that, we sorely need intensive media and civics literacy training for our schools, universities, social media initiatives, Internet sites, professional association programs, community organization agendas, and other critical issues projects. Admittedly, this is a long-term undertaking, but it will be absolutely essential if we are to survive this mess.

Following this week’s pipe bomb incidents, will any candidates on either side have the fortitude to condemn all the lies, bullying, and angry attacks that have become tactics in too many campaigns, including the president’s? 

Certainly there must be traditional Republicans, thoughtful Democrats, Independents, and heretofore non-voters who are finally disgusted enough with the fear-mongering, constant lying, and angry attacks on individuals devastating our politics.

After this week, it should be possible for candidates in both parties, and at all levels, to call out this loathsome behavior, and to do so without getting down in the gutter themselves. Really, how can any candidate with a conscience go forward if they don’t condemn and help clean up this mess?

Here’s what a candidate can do when mud begins flying: Temper tantrums, “me first” boasts, vulgar and vicious attacks, false claims of immigration horrors, supportive references to violent acts, senseless fake news charges, strings of bold-faced lies, and campaign rallies that are no more than political wrestling matches, can be labeled, described, condemned, and countered, from a position of self-confidence and strength. Accomplish this quickly, and the real substance of the campaign message can become practical and substantive ideas and plans for a better America.

Some candidates have sidestepped this mess by focusing on healthcare, tax cuts and jobs. These are important issues.  But what we have now is all out attacks on individual people, legitimate news organizations, and common decency by too many candidates. And this is creating dangerous societal divisions that are threatening the very foundation and future of our democratic republic.

Our country desperately needs candidates who will take this on. And people of good will in both parties should do the same.