I didn’t say it was always more polite, and of course there are examples of people using all sorts of illegal tactics to get or retain power. None of that in any way invalidates the fact that we had a very long period of getting things done by compromise and not completely alienating the other side. Today, that’s the norm, not the exception. Sometimes it seems like it’s more important for politicians to keep the other side from scoring a point than getting their own goals met.
I didn’t say it was always more polite, and of course there are examples of people using all sorts of illegal tactics to get or retain power. None of that in any way invalidates the fact that we had a very long period of getting things done by compromise and not completely alienating the other side. Today, that’s the norm, not the exception. Sometimes it seems like it’s more important for politicians to keep the other side from scoring a point than getting their own goals met.