The political worlds of 1860 and 2018

I've been reading Doris Kearns Goodwin's "Team of Rivals" about the selection of President Lincoln's Cabinet and the brilliance Lincoln displayed in bravely selecting his rivals for the Republican nomination to fill his Cabinet. This excellent, readable history has taught me much about Lincoln and the larger-than-life personalities who made up his Cabinet.

Many things about the rough-and-tumble fighting for the presidential nomination and the whole political system of the mid-1800s, when two political parties (Whigs and Know Nothings) expired and a new party (Republicans) was formed, are similar to today's sharp-edged politics. The difference is that men and women of the 19th century were unfailingly polite, self-effacing, deferential, and considerate. (Of course, sometimes they took grave offense and fought duels.) Americans of 150 years ago were also far better writers and more articulate than today's Americans. They wrote formal letters. They took the time to explain their positions in calm, rational language. There were no Twitter outbursts, no uncomfortable veiled insults in candidate debates, and no accusations of dishonesty or avarice among political rivals. 

By 19th century standards, today's Americans are coarse, unsympathetic, uncaring, angry, dismissive of other views, dishonest in describing viewpoints they disagree with, and willing to upend government institutions and the entire political system in order to win a few political points.

President Trump's behavior on his recent European trip would have appalled his forebears of 150 years ago. Calling out allies over their payments to NATO, casting doubt on long-established, essential institutions, confronting other leaders in a belligerent way, publicly telling an Ally's head of state that she is doing her job all wrong, threatening trade restrictions on nations whose leaders disagree with him, cozying up to the leader of an autocratic, expansive traditional enemy are exactly the opposite of 19th century diplomacy and rectitude. 

Diplomatic formality has been in decline for decades, but Trump's approach has sent the gradual decline spiraling into a black hole. Sadly, once good manners are trampled, they are nearly impossible to recover. The belligerent appeals to an angry voter base will almost certainly survive Trump's departure from the political spotlight, whenever that might be. Even without Trump, America in the next decade will be meaner, less sympathetic, less considerate, less reasoned, less decent than before.

I don't look forward to future elections or legislating.