No, civility isn't optional
By Mark Penn, opinion contributor — 10/19/18 10:00 AM EDT
In America, when we get angry at our political opponents, we take out negative ads. In too much of the rest of the world, they take out machetes, ricin or worse. It is what has separated us from the other major powers for 200 years.
This is even truer today in the 21st century. Think of what happens to the opposition in China, Russia, Iran or even Saudi Arabia. We are the only major power on earth with this distinction. Yes, there are important countries, including the UK, France, Germany, Japan and India, where democracy reigns but they are not the leading powers or the leading military forces in the world today. Of those, America remains the only one of the world’s superpowers based on personal freedom and constitutional order.
https://thehill.com/opinion/civil-rights/412201-no-civility-isnt-optional
