Isa Hinojosa ’25
A&E Editor
“Civility is the grease of democracy,” said former Colorado member of Congress David Skaggs, on his trip to Lake Forest College on September 20, 2022.
Skaggs was accompanied by former member of Congress Jim Kolbe of Arizona. What was interesting about this pair? Skaggs served Congress as a Democrat, while Kolbe served as a Republican. However, they both believe that our country’s democracy is in grave danger.
Jackson Sawyer ’23, who was able to have dinner with the former Congressmen after their presentation, appreciated their dynamic.
“I thought it was cool that they could bounce off each other’s ideas,” Sawyer said. “They may have been from different parties, but their ideas were not entirely different.”
Their mission is simple: as a pair, they are looking to “Restore Civility in Washington DC.” They have traveled together to several college campuses to share their ideas with college students and faculty because they believe that generation Z will be the one to undo the problems their parents created.
One of the main points that they made is that today’s Congressional members don’t spend their time in Washington. They believe that this is a problem, because they are not building relationships with each other, so civility is a difficult thing to accomplish.
Clare Green ’23, who also attended the dinner, was interested in this idea.
“I really liked their concept of having members (of Congress) stay in DC throughout the month,” Green said. “I understand that it’s a problem that they don’t talk to each other because it’s so divisive right now. I think that their idea of building friendships, that could really help.”
Skaggs shared an anecdote about how his wife and another Congressman’s wife (a member of the opposite political party) became very good friends because both of their families lived in Washington DC. What did this mean for Skaggs? He knew that if he was not civil with the Congressman, he would be hearing about it from his wife.
However, this does not mean hard conversations should not happen. Green felt that one of the main things she learned from the Congressmen is that hard political conversations should be had.
“Don’t shy away from hard conversations,” Green said. “I know that it’s hard because you don’t want to hurt people’s feelings or maybe lose a friend, but you have to come at it rationally and logically, and ultimately, you have to build foundations with people when you are disagreeing with them, so that it’s not like you’re attacking them, you’re just disagreeing.”
Another skill the Congressmen emphasized as extremely important was listening and being able to receive criticism.
“I think that the best points that they hit on is that no opinion is necessarily a wrong one, you just have to be able to back it up,” Sawyer said. “But more importantly, you have to be able to listen to others and be able to receive their criticism, too. Otherwise, you won’t be able to refine your argument and improve it.”
However, this does not just apply to Washington DC. The former Congressman’s final point was that it is important that this happens at all levels of humanity, including on our very own campus. Our generation are the next Congressional members and politicians, so perhaps if we build our civility now, we can change our political climate for the better.
