Lack of civility

I, too, don't like lack of civility in politics but let's face it, this is as American as apple pie. From the Founding Fathers on, politics has always included mudslinging and other uncivil gestures and lies. Why do you think Norman O. Brown writes, "Politics is pissing in public"? Indeed, 19th C political cartoons were, by and large, more vicious and mean than they are today. Ugly political climates are not nice to live through but they hardly are rare.