Issues with Civility and Bipartisanship

For our second paper, we were asked to write about the controversy surrounding civility in public discourse, specifically surrounding the political environment in America. This is an issue that is certainly at the forefront of political debates, and different political parties undoubtedly have vastly varying opinions of the line which separates civility from squelching free speech. While civility and bipartisanship are often praised for being "politically correct" and safe in the political arena, they are certainly flawed. For example, this type of speech often fails to alert Americans of the true severity and seriousness of the issue being discussed. If politicians are not blunt about certain topics, specifically national security, for example, their followers are less likely to heed their suggestions and information. These "feel good" responses are also under critique because they often lead to certain fakeness of the political world. If politicians no longer feel comfortable with sharing their true opinions in a way that they feel is most effective, politics suddenly take on an image of falseness, where politicians spend more time critiquing each other and crafting eloquent arguments than actually trying to help the nation. This strays from the actual point of politics--to make America a better place.