Samson's Jawbone

Civility has never been a characteristic of American politics. I am amazed at the number of pundits who keep saying "we need civility." I'm not exactly sure what they mean. The word "civility means, courtesy, a polite action or expression; an exchange of civilities." Nearly everyday I hear someone say that elections have become acrimonious. But have you noticed that the people who usually call for civility are the ones who have been the victim of attacks and they turn and become uncivil. The idea that acrimony and hostility is a new phenomenon and somehow represents a divided angry nation is totally specious. Remember we had early Vice Presidents who engaged in duels with their opponents. Attacks on Andrew Jackson's wife and family were so severe his wife was emotionally damaged, she became ill and died. Jackson was in the White House as a widower. Jackson went on to control the democratic party for several election campaigns and to run a vicious attack of h