Democratic Party Ninth District
Wyc Orr

The story is told of how Republican President Ronald Reagan and Democratic House Speaker Tip O'Neill would share a lateafternoon drink in the White House after a long, hard day spent on opposite sides of vital issues. Impasses which created "gridlock" were sometimes resolved in such informal exchanges.

What can we who love politics learn from this? Much. No doubt, there is a time and place to energize the base and fire up the faithful with harsh attacks upon the positions of political opponents. But by and large, the time for such red-meat rhetoric is when we are in party meetings and groups of like-minded partisans. As the Book of Ecclesiastes reminds us, "for everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven." When we speak to the media, or in public, we need to remember the example set by those who have gone before, in an age when mutual respect between Democrats and Republicans, and those of other parties and beliefs, was the order of the day. It is possible to aggressively assert our political beliefs without attacking personally those of a different persuasion.

Granted, this is difficult today. We are living in an age in which much of public discourse is poisoned by talk show hosts and their callers. Despite this trend being so at odds with the lessons of courtesy so many of us were "raised on," too many have chosen to emulate this raucous mean-spiritedness.

Our differing views are essential to our national greatness. The best solutions come from reasoned discussion of different approaches. Our diversity was celebrated by Walt Whitman a century and a half ago: "I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear." We should be like a great chorus, where all our voices merge to achieve a mellifluous harmony.

So what do I believe as a Democrat? I believe in the inherent dignity of all people, including those of a different viewpoint from my own. I believe in the Democratic Party, and the great legacy of FDR's New Deal, HST's Fair Deal, LBJ's Great Society, and JFK's New Frontier. But I also believe that America was built by great Republicans as well, among them Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt. And although I do not share much of the political philosophy of Ronald Reagan, I love the man, Ronald Reagan, for his supreme optimism, his riding horses and chopping wood well into his later years, and his love of this great land. I claim all of our American heroes, regardless of party.

Who most benefits when we Americans carry our political differences into the public square in a demonic display of hate, distrust and recrimination? It is our enemies, be they Al Qaeda or others. Surely they delight in seeing us feud among ourselves, separated from our cherished belief in "liberty and justice for all." Let us choose not to add to that delight. Let us treasure our respective parties and urge our political beliefs with vigor. But may we also, in the words of President Lincoln, do so "with malice toward none, with charity toward all," and in the words of President Kennedy, "let us go forth to lead the land we love, . . . knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own."

Wyc Orr, BS in Accounting Auburn Univ., J.D. University of Tennessee, former Army Captain JAG Corps, past member of the Georgia House of Representatives, senior partner Orr, Brown, Johnson LLP Gainesville, GA.