"... Trump is just the most notable symptom of a much more pernicious disease."

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COMMENTS: 
*  Amen!  Truth is not measured in decibels.
*  Incivility is a result of the overwhelming dysfunction of Washington's political atmosphere.  It cannot be fixed with the current set of characters and the power hungry parties.  The people must demand the fix or you will see anarchy.
*  What is sad is to read thie article, and the[n] read the comments.
*  Ryan and your cohorts in spreading hate, republican politicians, have led a successful campagn. You have illustrated a perfect example of disrespect in your treatment of our black president. It is sad that your preaching hate towards others the last 50 years has been a great success. More then you even hoped for it would seem. Your ideology has resulted in a party of bigots and hate mongerors. Who did you think would be running for your party with the hate you helped develop Mary Poppins. No, of course not, you got what your policies have created Ted Cruz and Trump. As usual republican politicians want to find someone to blame for their actions.
*  Ryan is part of the problem. Follows the same old tired policies of Republicans to entitle the wealthy and religious right through govt policies and to hell with the rest
*   Always blaming others for their lack of accomplishment seems to be the Republican way . Try doing your job as advertised and I'm sure that you will get the praise that you crave . Most people would just expect to receive monetary compensation , but you people take your money for nothing and expect praise for doing anything above just breathing.
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Paul Ryan is right. Will anyone listen?
Trump is the symptom but not the root of the incivility that threatens our political process.
By John Feehery, March 24, 2016

Of course, House Speaker Paul Ryan is correct.

Incivility is making it increasingly difficult for America to resolve its problems through a peaceful political process.

This has been the case since well before Donald Trump even thought about entering the race for president. Indeed, Trump is just the most notable symptom of a much more pernicious disease.

You don’t have to go far to see how incivility infects our society. Just watch any episode of the Real Housewives of Atlanta to see how supposed friends interact in the most uncivil ways.

Tune in to talk radio and hear about how our political leaders are liars, idiots, crooks or worse, and then turn on the television and watch commercials where those crooked politicians say the exact same thing about each other in attack ads.

This disease is not confined to the right. Democrats routinely attack Republicans for being racist, sexist, fascist and worse. In fact, their campaign strategies are often based on those memes.

I worked for House Republican leader Bob Michel, and it was Bob who lived politics by the mantra of being able to disagree without being disagreeable. Bob was a master legislative strategist who pushed through the Reagan agenda from his position as minority leader.

He was able to do that because he had a good working relationship with House Speaker Tip O’Neill and House Ways and Means Chairman Dan Rostenkowski. Michel was old-school. He saw firsthand what happens when the political process completely breaks down when he went to war against the Nazi regime and was wounded at the Battle of the Bulge.

Radio talkers such as Rush Limbaugh routinely criticized Michel for not being a strong enough conservative. But Michel understood the importance of the political process, the importance of political civility, the importance of coming to hard-fought agreements better than provocateurs like Limbaugh ever could.

We have reached a nadir in our national political discussion. When the Democrats aren’t comparing the Republicans to Nazis, the Republicans are calling each other liars. Trump likes to call Sen. Ted Cruz “Lyin' Ted”, and there was one debate where Cruz, Trump and Sen. Marco Rubio called one another liars continuously throughout.

If those gentlemen were politicians in the early 1800s, they'd have been forced to fight a duel to defend their honor. These days, there is damn little honor among the political class.

And politicians face little backlash if they choose to be uncivil to one another. Rep. Joe Wilson, the Republican from South Carolina, raised $1 million in less than 48 hours after he called President Obama a liar from the House floor. Cruz called Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell a liar from the Senate floor, and now he is in strong position to win the GOP nomination for the presidency. Heck, he even got an endorsement from Jeb Bush, whose family is known for being civil to a fault.

Social media has only made things worse. If you want to get sick to your stomach, read the Facebook page of any member of Congress. The things people will say to public servants are completely outrageous and disrespectful. It’s worse on Twitter. Some newspapers have decided not to publish comments at the end of their articles because those comments are so inappropriate.

Trump has figured out that having no class is a political plus. His fans love that he is politically incorrect. They love that he will say anything to anybody and about anybody. They love that he has no filter.

But guess what? The American people need a filter. They also need to have a greater appreciation of how their words — and those of their leaders — affect their colleagues, their neighbors and their kids.

Our political discourse needs to shape up. As Ryan said, "We shouldn't accept ugliness as the norm." Whether anyone heeds him or not, I am glad he said what he said.
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