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Ron Paul See other Ron Paul Articles Title: Fact: Vulgar Politics Are Kind of an American Tradition Fact: Vulgar Politics Are Kind of an American Tradition The Republic has seen at least as bad as Donald Trump. Getty The Washington Post By Charles P. Pierce Mar 29, 2016 Due to the fact that one of our two major political parties is probably going to nominate for president a vulgar talking yam, we are having another tiresome national discussion about civility in our politics. Thumbs are being sucked down to a nub. Chins are being stroked until they come to a fine point. Brows are being furrowed deeply enough to hold a three-day rain. Whatever will become of our country once the vulgarians descend upon the fruited plains? Why these people have so little faith in the raucous political traditions of our Founders remains beyond me. As a very smart friend reminded me over lunch: Who is He, Trump on trade but the modern version of Mr. Jefferson and his embargo, and Jefferson has a temple on the Potomac, while He, Trump has to make do with a hotel in Florida that looks like it was designed by Madame LaFarge on blotter acid? Living history! And then there were the cool deliberations of the legislative bodies of the time. "…Then, the assembly records say, two members who had been lingering at Boyd's boarding house, James M'Calmont and Jacob Miley suddenly appeared in the room where the legislature met. They had been forcibly seized and dragged to the state house by the sergeant-at-arms and three men…M'Calmont protested that he had been 'forcibly brought into the assembly room, contrary to his wishes,' and 'begged that he might be dismissed from the House…When M'Calmont tried to flee, spectators in the gallery 'cried out stop him' and a crowd at the door forced him to return to his place… "Pandemonium broke out. Stephen Chambers seized the floor and with 'great heat' declared that Smilie's language was 'indecent' and that the three minority speakers 'had abused the indulgence which the other side of the house had granted to them in consenting to hear all their reasons." Chambers…Meanwhile, civility had declined in the audience as well… These two passages come from the late Pauline Maier's magnificent book, Ratification. The issue under discussion in these wild-west proceedings is the Constitution of the United States, its history too often revered rather than studied. Since episodes like this produced the Constitution, I think the Republic can probably stand whatever comes of the possibility of Donald Trump. "Och," as the sage of the Archey Road once put it, "thim was the days!" Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
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