Hell may just freeze over

The end must truly be near. Write this date down, March 14th. Something monumental took place today: I actually found a single issue in which Jim Carville and I agree.

I'm not going to lie, I've never been much of a Carville fan. In fact he was THE reason why I stopped watching crossfire because he'd never let his opponent say more than 3 words at a time. But today Carville wrote a brilliant op ed in which he discusses how the media and political campaigns are doing a huge disservice to the American people by demanding “civility” in political campaigns.

He doesn't use those exact words, I put a link to the piece above, but Carville is right on the money. The focus of his op ed is the democrat party. He says that recently there has been a war of resignations for people saying stupid things. His overall point is this: Clinton and Obama camps need to lighten up a little and give people some breathing room to say what they actually think.

Carville does not discuss how the press has tried to use civility to censor the American right. Since Bill Buckley's death I must have read over twenty stories on how Limbaugh is no Bill Buckley. He's not a civilized and he's bringing the whole country down because of his lack of civility.

First, of course Rush Limbaugh is no Bill Buckley. Bill Buckley was Bill Buckley. Rush Limbaugh is Rush Limbaugh. Both had unique ways to persuade. Buckley's was with large scholalrly words and wit. Rush uses sarcasm, parody and the vocabulary of a the average man. Buckley looked scholarly, Limbaugh sounds like the guy you talk to at work.

Second, let us, the people of the United States, decide who is too shrill or extreme to listen to. I don't understand why the media needs to dedicate so much time discussing how shrill and "uncivil" talk radio is. If talk radio is offensive the listener will change the channel. In addition, even if you disagree with a host allowing him to voice his opinion helps you understand how his audience thinks and feels. It helps you be better prepared in the arena of ideas.

Let’s use me for example. I watched Crossfire for about a year and in that year I learned a lot about how James Carville thinks and feels about issues. I don't like Carvilles style of debate, it eventually got old to me. However, I didn't try to swamp CNN with emails to pull Carville.

In appropriate material drives people away. If that wasn’t the case than why to campaigns spend so much time trying to say who has been more out of line and uncivil. On both sides of the political spectrum it’s time to stop spending so much time throwing a temper tantrum, and to start listening and debating.

PS- To read Carville's story click on the title "Hell may just freeze over"

Jason Bentley is currently a communications major at BYU and has always had a fascination with history, philosophy and politics.