San Diego Civility Conference Arrives During Belligerent Political Season

Speaker 1: 00:00 After last week's presidential debate, devolved into frequent insults and interruptions, mostly by president Trump. America is holding its breath to see what tonight's vice presidential debate will be like. In fact, so often these days, the statements of America's political candidates feel like assaults rather than information. And so the ninth annual conference on restoring civility to civic dialogue, which takes place virtually today could hardly come at a better time. Speakers will address what conspiracy theories and verbal vitriol are doing to the health of our democracy. Joining me is political science professor, Carl Luna director at the Institute for civil civic engagement and organizer of the conference on restoring civility to civic dialogue. And Carl, welcome back to the show. Speaker 2: 00:52 Thank you for having me, Maureen. Speaker 1: 00:54 Now you've been advocating for a civil civic dialogue for many years now. What was your reaction to the presidential debate last week? Speaker 2: 01:04 A lot of Pepcid on the parade, uh, it was, as everybody wants to point out a low point in modern presidential discourse, the sad fact is neither of the candidates are probably going to pay much of a price at the polls. People now put partisanship over any sense of propriety and civility, and it's at the detriment of our democracy. Speaker 1: 01:26 Why do you think our political dialogue has come to this? Is, is it the president's fault or are there more factors involved? Speaker 2: 01:34 Oh, it's more complicated than anyone. One political leader, Marine, president Trump. He plays into it because he's good at doing it. He knows his strong suit and he's always been the bully and it works. And I'm not saying that derogatorily, he himself likes to push people around and his supporters kind of like that. But this goes back for years. I think that at the end of the day, it comes down to a simple fact. We're confronting so many different problems and crises as we move through the 21st century, neither of the political parties really have a handle on how to address it. So if you can't solve the problem, what you're left with is demonizing the other side. Speaker 1: 02:09 Now this incivility in our politics is not restricted to national politics just recently in Carlsbad, a city council woman took out a restraining order against what she calls the threatening conduct of constituents online. How big a role does social media play in this breakdown of civility? Speaker 2: 02:28 Well, if lead was in the pipes is what the water is, what took out the Roman Republic. Uh, the social media is in danger of doing that to our Republic, unchecked, unfiltered social media, and with monopolies, basically of these big purveyors reaching into every home allows a firehose wall full of falsehoods. Misguided information are conspiracy theories, the flood in our daily newsfeeds. And then you don't know, what's what I mean. Even discerning viewers can be fooled by things they see on the internet Speaker 1: 03:01 As the featured speaker at today's conference, you have Cindy McCain, the widow of Senator John McCain, who has been working on the issue of civility. Tell us about that. Speaker 2: 03:13 Well, mrs. McCain spoke this morning and a webinar that one went out from the university of San Diego and the San Diego community college district. And she spoke passionately about her husband's dedication, the late Senator John McCain to civility. It did for him. It didn't mean that you just give up on your viewpoints, but you can engage in really robust, often heated discussion, but you have to respect the person. On the other side, you have to begin with an assumption unless you're given real evidence to the contrary that the other person is acting in good faith and also wants a better America too. You just sort of disagree on how to get there Speaker 1: 03:48 Now, who and what else is featured at the conference? Speaker 2: 03:52 Well, this afternoon, we have a panel on misinformation and conspiracy theories and their impact on democracy, which features, uh, historians from around America. Uh, also, uh, locally Matt hall, Natalie Walsh will be on the panel, looking at it from a journalist perspective. And we're going to focus in a small part on Q Anon, as an example of the conspiracy theory, that's hijacked, uh, the child trafficking issue, talking with a couple of experts in child trafficking. I mean, all these weird things circulate about conspiracies with spell trafficking, the distract from really good public policy. And that's the problem, these conspiracies. And then after that, we'll have at the two o'clock Michael VU, and that gal was there from UCLA, or you Thiel from their league of women voters talking about voting in 2020 fact from fiction. Another example of falsehoods, which are interfering with our democracy, how you can know your ballots are going to be safe. And the fact that if we don't know who won on election night, no big cheese, that's supposed to be normal Speaker 1: 04:52 Cost of our contentious and our polarized politics. Are you concerned about the November election? Speaker 2: 04:58 I am more concerned about an election at any point in my life, Maria and I hate to be hyperbolic about it or sound emotional for it. But the 2000 election was one that came down to problems in Florida, neither party going into the 2000 launch. And prior to that, we're talking about how you can, truck's the outcome, how the whole thing's going to be stolen. We've created such an environment of fear, uh, about the election for the Republicans. They think fraud will steal the election from them, for the Democrats and our cake electoral college system and voter, uh, laws that restrict the votes. They're afraid to steal the election from them. Neither side is well positioned to credit the other side with winning. And that's the sort of crisis we have never faced in a Republic. Speaker 1: 05:43 Well, after today's conference, there is the vice presidential debate tonight. How do you think that will compare to the presidential debate? Last week? Speaker 2: 05:51 One would hope it would be better, but already I hear there's arguments going on about whether or not you'll have plexiglass on the, uh, you have a big basic question about will Mike Pence come out swinging, see his problem is there's more of a spotlight on him because with MacDill, with president Trump and his recent illness, the VP debate now takes on a whole new importance. And mr. Pence is usually kind of quiet if he doesn't come out swinging like the president did last week, he may look weak to his face and that could cause it all to disintegrate and Kamala Harris, a veteran prosecutor might actually be able to take him down if he does that, which will help her, but she may be sucked into it too. My hope is some policy gets discussed tonight or in the debate. Uh, I'm not as hopeful. Speaker 1: 06:38 Okay. Then I've been speaking with political science professor, Carl Luna, organizer of the conference on restoring civility to civic dialogue. Carl, thank you so much. Speaker 2: 06:49 Thank you. Speaker 1: 06:51 In this afternoon session of the conference register at San diego.edu/civility and look for the upcoming events bar, attendance is free.