I AM THE FORCE

Whatever happened to this bold initiative for civility in Wisconsin government? About five years ago, a handful of legislators announced their plans to hold their colleagues to some basic rules of civility. Unfortunately, the Council for Civility in Government turned out to be more of a suggestion than code of conduct.

Most, if not all, observers of the Wisconsin Legislature have come away feeling embarrassed at the experience. Name calling, partisan hatred, bigotry, personal disrespect, and the outright refusal to engage in a true exchange of ideas are all a daily part of our Capitol landscape. It seems as if hardly a week can go by without some legislator crossing the line into incivility. Who cares, you ask? Anyone who hopes for a healthy democracy or wisdom in our laws should care.

But the legislators who held their civility press conference a few years back were apparently not serious about the problem, and the atmosphere has continued to deteriorate. School groups in the gallery continue to represent the highest levels of maturity in the chamber, and the Tim Carpenters and Scott Suders continue to run wild.

I know that they are all too lazy and worthless to actually do something about it, but I think they need to try again. Things could improve if even one of them had the courage to stand up on the floor and challenge the malefactors. When Carpenter calls someone a Nazi or Huebsch calls someone a queer, there should be organized grown-ups in the Legislature to say enough. It might sound extreme, but maybe they could even demand common courtesy.

But if you're rabid, and believe the devil is represented by the opposing party's leader, then I guess you'll be content to have the nastiness continue. Although that seems to be the consensus out there, our standards have lowered to unacceptable levels. Do we have to descend even further and have fisticuffs a la Taiwan or pre-Civil War Congress before we feel the need to re-establish order and civility?

Embarrassing. Destructive. Stupid.

http://www.instcig.org/how_you_fit_in/frequently_asked_questions/index.aspx