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Dear Editor:
For years, I’ve tried to understand why there is so much rudeness in politics, but I might finally be onto something. You may want to take this with a grain of salt, but if you’re as bad at handicapping elections as I am, read on. We’ll commiserate.
After almost 50 years of voting in presidential elections, I recall eight between candidates I considered to be good people, including the ones I didn’t support. For example, Ronald Reagan vs. former Vice President Walter Mondale in 1984.
In their first televised debate, Reagan seemed off-balance and confused. Less charitable observers might say “Biden-like.” Mondale, by contrast was on point, articulate, and non-judgmental. Nary an ageist slur was uttered. When Reagan responded, “I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience” in the second debate, no one laughed harder than Mondale. He lost the race in a landslide, but it was a banner moment for good sportsmanship.
There have been civil campaigns since then, but something is missing from today’s contests. I call it the “strain of decency”: comparable to a strain of bacteria, but in a good way. Reagan and Mondale, for all their policy differences, had a strain of decency. I combined “strain” with “decency” to underscore a human value that gamely hung on until we turned it into a relic.
Jim Newton
Itasca, Ill.