PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE: This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus use an image from my favorite sport, golf. Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as a Congressional press secretary in Washington, D.C., an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and a private sector lobbyist. This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.

If you read this blog – and I know at least one person who does — you may suspect that one of my favorite words is civility.

I ascribe this to the use of the word in one of my favorite political quotes of all time, one uttered by General Colin Powell who decided a number of years ago not run for president as he “bemoaned the loss of civility in politics.”

As I have written previously, I wish I would have been smart enough to say those words – in general and not in relation to any run for political office, which never interested me, nor would I have any chance to be elected.

Powell’s words were true 10 years ago and are even more true today.

The dictionary definition of civility is as follows:

Courtesy; politeness; polite action or expression.

Think about the nature of our country’s politics these days. Civility is not a word that would come to mind.

Democrats berate Republicans as being out of touch and supporters of various forms of depravity.

Republicans berate Democrats as the party of big government that wants to take away personal freedoms.

Each lacks civility toward the other and never the twain shall meet.

To see this in detail, look no farther than political advertising as we head toward a monumental November election that will decide which party controls the House and Senate in Congress.

If you see or hear the ads, you are not encouraged that anyone will ever find a way to reach agreement on the campaign trail. You will not hear or see civility in the ads and that is likely to set the stage for the same lack of civility once winners take office.

That brings me to another pet peeve of mine – the reality of a permanent campaign in this country.

Two authors – Christopher H. Browne, Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania, and Dennis Thompson, Alfred North Whitehead Professor of Political Philosophy at Harvard University – have suggested that “political compromise is difficult in American democracy even though no one doubts it is necessary because of the incursion of campaigning into governing in American democracy.”

They call this the “permanent campaign” which encourages political attitudes and arguments that make compromise more difficult.

They continue: “ These constitute what we call the uncompromising mindset, characterized by politicians’ standing on principle and mistrusting opponents. This mindset is conducive to campaigning, but not to governing, because it stands in the way of necessary change and thereby biases the democratic process in favor of the status quo. The uncompromising mindset can be kept in check by an opposite cluster of attitudes and arguments — the compromising mindset that inclines politicians to adapt their principles and respect their opponents. This mindset is more appropriate for governing, because it enables politicians more readily to recognize and act on opportunities for desirable compromise.”

One of my partners sent me a note last weekend suggesting that, when it comes to health care, Democrats have all the answers and cannot persuade Republicans to come to the negotiating table because all Republicans do is oppose the Ds.

Well, I add that the negotiating table rarely works when both sides are yelling at each other. Smart Republicans – yes, there are some – have ideas about health care, short of a government-run single payer system, the first step toward which was the “Affordable Care Act,” sometimes known as ObamaCare.

So, I say a pox on the extremes in both parties.

I would favor a third party, which, of course, would have no chance to prevail. But a third party based on the idea of getting things done in Washington, D.C. – call it “compromise” or the “smart middle” – sounds better every time I think about.

Let civility prevail!