Dec 29, 2019 3 min read

Daniel Krauthammer, the son of the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Charles Krauthammer, both edited and wrote a preface to “The Point of it All,” a collection of his father’s writings that perfectly captures Charles Krauthammer’s (and my) longstanding belief that America today suffers an inability to conduct civil debate.

As Charles K. insisted, and practiced, a precondition to civil debate is that each side respect the legitimacy of the other side. That doesn’t mean you must agree with the other side – on the contrary, you wouldn’t need to debate if you did. But it does mean you must think of the other side not as an enemy to be dispatched, but as an opponent who might … just might … have an argument reinforced with sounder reasoning and more persuasive evidence than yours. And the only way to determine this is by having a debate with the above preconditions.

Instead, today, rather than bothering to learn the facts and marshaling logical arguments meant to persuade opponents, we find it much easier to demonize opponents – to portray them as clueless regarding the facts and logical arguments – while they think the same of us. When each side brands the other side as ignorant demons, neither side is likely to change its mind.

And as Charles K. often pointed out, the problem is greatly exacerbated when different groups resort to “apocalyptic alarmism.” That is, one side portrays the other side as so dangerous that its goal is to usher in the end of the world as we know it. Thus, the only way to avoid this apocalypse is to thwart the other side, not by rational debate but by whipping your own side into a frenzy, and then using whatever means necessary – including force – to overpower the other side.

One of his prime examples is the McCarthyism of the 1950s in which Sen. Joseph McCarthy, without a shred of evidence, claimed the State Department – and by extension the nation – was riddled with Communists and sympathizers who must be destroyed before they bring about the end of America as we knew it. The resulting “Red Scare” apocalypse ruined the careers, and in some cases ended the lives, of completely innocent people. And completely divided the country.

Not that Charles K. was a doomsayer. While understanding the threat to our constitutional republic this lack of civility poses, he was incurably optimistic that reason will ultimately prevail, because even through the many dark periods our nation has faced, it always has.

As we leave the year 2019 and enter the next, let us reflect upon the wisdom and spirit of people such as Charles Krauthammer, who, as he wrote before dying in 2018, died with no regrets.

Bruce G. Kauffmann’s e-mail address is bruce@historylessons.net