{"id":1312747,"date":"2019-07-23T21:32:01","date_gmt":"2019-07-24T03:32:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/purcell-column-our-childish-politicians-need-kindergarten-lessons\/"},"modified":"2019-07-23T21:32:01","modified_gmt":"2019-07-24T03:32:01","slug":"purcell-column-our-childish-politicians-need-kindergarten-lessons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/purcell-column-our-childish-politicians-need-kindergarten-lessons\/","title":{"rendered":"Purcell column: Our childish politicians need kindergarten lessons"},"content":{"rendered":"
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We could use a hearty dose of Robert Fulghum wisdom about now.<\/p>\n

Our political discourse is at a fever pitch. Our allegedly esteemed elected leaders are carrying on like unruly children \u2014 shouting and pouting and becoming increasingly strident with their political opponents.,<\/p>\n

If they wish to carry on like children, they need to learn some kindergarten wisdom.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be, I learned in kindergarten,\u201d wrote Fulghum in his famous 1988 essay, \u201cAll I Really Need to Know I Learned In Kindergarten.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShare everything,\u201d he writes.<\/p>\n

Too few of us realize it, but we share many things. Most of all, we share a magnificent representative republic \u2014 and every one of us shares the incredible responsibility of running it by voting and participating in public discourse.<\/p>\n

Our politicians must embrace our shared responsibility by discussing and debating political ideas civilly \u2014 by working out political agreements as well-mannered adults.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlay fair,\u201d writes Fulghum.<\/p>\n

In sports, nobody likes a \u201cdirty\u201d player \u2014 someone who hits below the belt, or someone who tries to knock the quarterback out of the game by ramming a helmet into his knee.<\/p>\n

Attempts to destroy or discredit political opponents with hyperbole and unsubstantiated accusations only lather up half the country as they alienate the other half. Such cynical dishonesty drives us apart, making it that much harder for us to arrive at orderly, sensible solutions.<\/p>\n

If you disagree with someone\u2019s political ideas, discuss that disagreement in a logical and unemotional manner. If you believe your idea is superior, make your case. That\u2019s the only way for our best political ideas to become effective government policies, and goodness knows we have too few of those.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t hit people\u201d is another of Fulghum\u2019s insights.<\/p>\n

Unfounded cheap shots have got to stop.<\/p>\n

Calling someone a \u201cracist\u201d or a \u201cNazi\u201d just because you dislike him or her or disagree with his or her ideas does more to discredit those overused labels than it does to discredit your target.<\/p>\n

Chanting for a member of Congress \u2014 a naturalized U.S. citizen \u2014 to be \u201csent back\u201d to the country where she was born, just because you strongly disagree with her ideas, lowers and discredits you as it elevates the target of your chant.<\/p>\n

We are better than this \u2014 at least I hope we are.<\/p>\n

Fulghum offers a dozen other useful insights in his essay, but these words are probably the most important:<\/p>\n

\u201cLive a balanced life,\u201d he writes. \u201cLearn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.\u201d<\/p>\n

Look, politics is important \u2014 keeping informed and participating in our political system is essential to our country\u2019s continued success \u2014 but too many of us are taking our politics way too personally.<\/p>\n

As we become ever more boisterous in our discourse \u2014 as we post ever-more angry and ridiculous thoughts on social media \u2014 we motivate the politicians who represent us to do likewise.<\/p>\n

All of us need to stop taking ourselves so seriously. All of us need to escape the narrowness of our limited point of view.<\/p>\n

As Fulghum advises, we need to spend more time drawing and painting and singing and dancing. We need to play and laugh and stop taking ourselves, and our politics, so seriously.<\/p>\n

Perhaps if we heed a little kindergarten wisdom, we will remember how to be civil, well-mannered adults.<\/p>\n

With any luck, our politicians will follow suit.<\/p>\n

Send comments to Tom at Tom@TomPurcell.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We could use a hearty dose of Robert Fulghum wisdom about now. Our political discourse is at a fever pitch. Our allegedly esteemed elected leaders are carrying on like unruly children \u2014 shouting and pouting and becoming increasingly strident with their political opponents., If they wish to carry on like children, they need to learn […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1312747","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-21 05:04:22","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1312747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1312747"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1312747\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1312747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1312747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1312747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}