One morning in the early Clinton days I got asked to appear that evening on a CNN program — now defunct, happily — called “Crossfire.”

There was a liberal host and a liberal guest who argued the issue of the day with a conservative host and a conservative guest.

Advertisement

By mid-afternoon, in a second preparatory phone briefing with the producer, I got bumped.

All I can tell you is that this producer said I was not strident enough as the liberal guest, the position for which I had been pegged, to balance the stridency of the guest on the right.

Advertisement

Then there was that election night when the local television station’s anchorman referred to one of the on-air analysts, the more conservative, as representing Republicans and to me as representing Democrats.

I demanded a retraction. Election analysis is not partisan. Vote totals are vote totals.

Advertisement

I was representing only myself, not any partisan person or group. If I leaned more to the Democratic side than the Republican in my general views, as I acknowledged, it was by honest circumstance, not by design or assignment or predetermination or prejudice.

These reminiscences came to me last week as I pondered three things — the debate over civility, Joe Lieberman’s retirement and the prospect of a few Democrats and Republicans sitting together during the State of the Union address Tuesday night.

Advertisement

The cancer on our political dialogue is not incivility, but partisan stereotyping by which honest expression of independent thought is not permitted, or at least not valued, and certainly not encouraged.

To the contrary, we have evolved into a system of emphasis on forced and faux “balance” by which persons are condemned, essentially, to neutralize each other, to geld each other, by representing and expressing reliably partisan and wholly juxtaposed positions.

Advertisement

Actually, a fair-minded politician or pundit would not require balancing by an outside party. He or she would provide that balance internally by personal fairness and by attention to detail and context.

Thoughtful opinions do not need to be balanced. They need to be considered. Political virtue is not to be found in forced symmetry. It is to be found in free thought and free expression and in the alliances that ensue naturally from them.

Advertisement

Those of you who send me messages from time to time saying that you hate to admit it, but that you agree with me on something … why, I wonder, do you hate it?

Is it me you hate? Or is it agreement you hate? Or do you hate that an idea could transcend your comfortable personal bias?

So now we have Joe Lieberman, who, in announcing last week that he will not run again, pointed out that his stew pot of views was much like that of John F. Kennedy, and that JFK would not be a reliable Democrat anymore.

Support for an activist and muscular defense, in Afghanistan and Iraq; support for tax cuts; championing of social justice by which he led the fight for open homosexuality in the military — this combination of positions had Lieberman ostracized by his natural Democratic allies and distrusted by Republicans.

Advertisement

JFK advocated an activist and muscular defense in missile development and in Vietnam and toward Cuba. He advocated across-the-board reductions in income tax rates. He championed civil rights.

Lieberman’s presumptuous comparison was not so off base.

He said it was not that he was leaving politics, but that politics had left him.

So on Tuesday night a few members of Congress of Democratic and Republican persuasions intend to sit next to each other rather than in the usual patterns clearly delineating the strident and sometimes artificial separation of partisanship.

It will be dismissed as modest symbolism. But we desperately need less of that ever-balanced crossfire. Too many good people and good ideas get caught in it.

50 years of fearless reporting and still going strong

Be a part of something bigger and join the fight for truth by subscribing or donating to the Arkansas Times. For 50 years, our progressive, alternative newspaper in Little Rock has been tackling powerful forces through our tough, determined, and feisty journalism. With over 63,000 Facebook followers, 58,000 Twitter followers, 35,000 Arkansas blog followers, and 70,000 email subscribers, it's clear that our readers value our commitment to great journalism. But we need your help to do even more. By subscribing or donating – as little as $1 –, you'll not only have access to all of our articles, but you'll also be supporting our efforts to hire more writers and expand our coverage. Take a stand with the Arkansas Times and make a difference with your subscription or donation today.

Previous article UA Honors College senior faces deportation Next article Legislative rundown