Herbst, Susan. Rude Democracy: Civility and Incivility in American Politics.
Friedman, Barry D.
Herbst, Susan. Rude Democracy: Civility and Incivility in American
Politics. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2010. x + 203 pages.
Cloth, $24.95.
On January 8, 2011, when John M. Roll, chief judge of the U.S.
District Court for the District of Arizona, and five others were killed,
and U.S. Representative Gabrielle D. Giffords (D-AZ) and thirteen others
were wounded by a deranged gunman at a Tucson, Arizona, supermarket,
politicians, news commentators, and private citizens wondered whether
the harshness of the nation's political rhetoric might have
provoked the assault. The tragedy followed, by five months, the
publication of this volume by public-opinion researcher Susan Herbst,
who will soon assume the presidency of the University of Connecticut. If
this book helps readers understand whether incivility in political
discourse interferes with the healthy operation of the political system
and the productivity of the policymaking process, Herbst would have
contributed an intelligent analysis of circumstances like the
devastating Tucson incident.
Appropriately, Herbst does not resort to the naivete of endorsing
civility and denouncing incivility. "... [T]ying ourselves up in
knots about what is fight or wrong, civil or uncivil," she
suggests, "is far less useful than educating Americans about how to
debate and develop the thick skin that strong democratic debate
demands" (p. 9). Insofar as a scenario in which discourse is
unfailingly polite is beyond attainment, an analysis of the reasons for
and results of civility and incivility is more productive. Herbst aptly
explains a political actor's decision to express opinions in a
civil or uncivil manner as a matter of strategy, which is based on the
actor's assessment of which method is more likely to accomplish
his/her objectives.
Herbst assigns President Barack Obama as her poster boy for
civility, discussing, for example, his May 17, 2009, commencement
address at the University of Notre Dame in which he discussed methods
for resolving difficult issues--such as abortion policy--considerately.
She assigns 2008 Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin to be
her poster girl for incivility, noting, for example, her forceful
expressions of opposition to the health-care reform proposals of Obama
and Democratic leaders in Congress. Herbst is correct in observing that
the president is most effective when he offers conciliation to
audiences, while Palin's skill lies in serving the "red
meat" that provokes right-wing Americans to turn out for political
events and work to advance the fortunes of Tea Party candidates.
Although Herbst portrays her analysis as empirical, the discussion
is predominately philosophical. Her anecdotal evidence comes from her
examination of videos of speeches at campaign events, issue-oriented
meetings and rallies, and other public gatherings. One of the five
chapters--Chapter 4--reports the results of a survey of students in
Georgia's public-university system, but, while this is an
interesting portrait of students' opinions about civil and uncivil
rhetoric in the classroom and elsewhere on college campuses, the survey
data are tangential to the rest of the book's undertaking. By and
large, the book is driven by Herbst's own logic, which will help
readers develop their own opinions about whether incivility has, as
conventional wisdom now contends, destructively engulfed the
nation's political rhetoric.
Barry D. Friedman, PhD
Professor of Political Science
North Georgia College & State University
Dahlonega, Georgia
