Editorial: Krauthammer and the lost era of respectful debate
Political columnist Charles Krauthammer, who died with inspirational courage and utmost dignity Thursday, never equivocated in his commentaries.
He expressed a staunchly conservative point of view and leveled unflinching criticism with an eloquence, precision and biting humor that left no one doubting where he stood.
But you could disagree with him, as we often would, without feeling demeaned or disrespected by him.
He built his arguments around facts and intellect, not on insults.
Because of this, he occasionally changed minds. And, we suspect, his love of reasoning left him with the capacity to have his mind changed from time to time, too.
As a matter of fact, Krauthammer readily acknowledged his own ideological evolution. He'd been a liberal in his younger years and transformed into a Reagan conservative. You don't shift your point-of-view like that that because you've been outshouted. You do so because you keep listening.
As we reflect with sadness today on Krauthammer's passing, we reflect with similar regret on the apparent flickering of the era of energetic but largely respectful debate and discourse that dominated the last half of the 20th century.
"Every two years," Krauthammer said, "the American politics industry fills the airwaves with the most virulent, scurrilous, wall-to-wall character assassination of nearly every political practitioner in the country. And then declares itself puzzled that America has lost trust in its politicians."
That description of our politics remains accurate today with a major exception. The character assassination is not "every two years" anymore. It's every day.
That, and the reality that the character assassination is more widespread. It's not just limited to politicians.
We live today in an era of name-calling, cynicism, partisanship and conspiracy theories, a time of shouts and insults that pass as political discussion.
It is a time of win or lose or stalemate, not a time of collaboration and responsiveness.
It's an embarrassment to the country and counterproductive to solving problems.
It leads neither to compromise nor to philosophical conversion. It leads only to division.
Today, we pause to remember Charles Krauthammer. In doing so, let's resolve also to listen, to learn from one another rather than dismiss each other.