That Acrimonious Stench in the Air? Echoes of the 1850's Senate

Last week, senator Jim Bunning (R-KY) took to the floor of the Senate to object to a unanimous vote on unemployment benefits. His filibuster elicited a vociferous response from Democrats who turned the occasion into a tag team match, venting their frustration with Republican obstructionism in congress. The debate, and the media attention it spawned, led senate Democrats such as Dick Durbin (D-IL) to describe the event as cathartic, and a convenient moment which played into their hands beautifully. While I support public criticism of petty Republican tactics, the increasingly coarse debate within the Senate should give one pause. The senate was intended from the beginning to be an introspective body, free from biannual campaigning, which would balance against the livelier debate seen in the larger and more rambunctious House of Representatives. Due to this, I believe the Senate is the "canary in the mine," an indicator of the civility of debate in America.

Bunning's stunt has inspired many Democrats to use this as a model for further confrontation, even if it leads to obscenities and middle fingers, as this last debate did. In 1856, a similarly tense Senate provided its own sideshow. In 1856, Preston Brooks (D-SC)clobbered senator Charles Sumner (R-MA)over the head with a cane on the senate floor in retaliation for his public condemnation of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, one of the causes of the Civil War. The degradation of senate debate isn't the only reminder of those turbulent '50s. Political leaders from Texas, Alaska, and Vermont have called for secession, while leaders in Arizona and Glenn Beck have "educated" Fox News viewers on the states' right to nullify Federal Law. We haven't heard that one since Andrew Jackson's showdown with John C. Calhoun! The 19th century is back! Furthermore, the Southern Poverty Law Center recently revealed that anti-government militias have increased significantly since Obama's inauguration. This is not to say that we are months from the Battle of Bull Run, but it is indicative of a serious ignorance of history in today's society.

For decades, schools have stocked history classrooms with gym teachers and football coaches, while putting more emphasis on reading and math (how else will they pass those standardized tests?!). Students are drilled on names and dates, facts which bore them and frequently lead to hatred of the subject. As more and more students hate history, they deprive themselves of valuable context which would otherwise help them determine the validity of an argument. In a country where we turn to the Drudge report and the empty-headed anchors of CNN for our news, this lack of context is quite dangerous. The Michelle Bachmanns and Noam Chomskys of the world argue ahistorically for their side, finding adherents amongst the very same students who "hate history." Hopefully one day we'll learn to treat American History with more respect, because if we don't, we'll see brother fighting brother sooner than you expect.