We can save our democracy with civility

I understand that people are saying that they will not accept the results of this election and may even join with others in a civil war. Others have said, as one of the candidates in this vitriolic election has said, that they will not support the winner in any way unless they agree with it, hat they might even work to have them imprisoned, impeached, or deported.

All of this could mean that we are facing a breakdown in our democratic way of governing and living. It could mean that we might caste out the U.S. Constitution, with its wisdom and traditions that have matured for more than 200 years to foolishly dissolve into chaos.

We have recently seen this happen in The Arab Spring of the Middle East, where nations that are ruled by dictators have seen the advantages of a democratic system such as ours and decided to throw out dictatorial rule and seek democracy for themselves. Of course they do not have the valuable traditions of democracy (like decency and respect for all parties and elected officials) that we have developed over the years. Thus their governing bodies have quickly fallen apart into chaos, and even back into dictatorships.

This present milieu of name-calling, undermining, exaggeration and downright meanness, where there is no respect for other elected officials, other parties, or any of the branches of government, has been coming on for a long time.

However, I can remember when to say anything negative about another candidate in an election was frowned upon and even rejected. Now each candidate feels it's the only way they can win. I can remember when people in Congress would speak to each other with gentility and respect and would compromise to reach the best decisions for the good of the country.

Now no one knows what negotiation means, as they yell and scream on the floors of Congress and block legislation. The presence of a statesman (who were more concerned for their country than their party) seems to be a thing of the past as we continue to drift into disrespect, fighting and confusion.

This negative approach to government is not only not new, it's also contagious, like catching the flu. And it's spreading all over the place. One person catches it and spreads to as many other people. Of course, when enough people catch it, our democracy, based upon mutual respect, will be gone. There is no doubt that right now we have drifted the farthest off course in our democracy since the Civil War.

We must get over ourselves and come together to civilly elect a president and then support him, to affirm our belief in the U.S. Constitution and the democratic system that our Founding Fathers so wisely gave us.

We must calmly find a way to stand with the Pledge of Allegiance and support one nation and liberty and justice for all.

The writer lives in Murrells Inlet.

This story was originally published November 11, 2016 at 5:23 PM with the headline "We can save our democracy with civility."