The Etiquette of American Politics

September 18, 2009

South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson has been admonished for yelling “You lie” during President Obama’s health care speech, an outburst that startled many Americans and which others connected to this summer’s rowdy town hall behavior. However, in the United Kingdom the political process is routinely more raucous. Is American the land of polite politics... and is that changing?

“There are differences in style between U.S. and U.K. political discourse,” says Thomas Hollihan of the USC Annenberg School, an expert on political communication. “In the U.K. the prime minister is essentially the first among equals. Because prime ministers are selected by the peers as party leaders, they are accorded less deference. (One would not imagine, for instance, that the ceremonial head of state, Her Royal Majesty, would be heckled in the House of Commons.) In the U.S., on the other hand, the president is the head of state and is elected directly by the citizens.

“Furthermore, due to the separation of powers doctrine, it is assumed that the president will respectfully address the legislative and judicial branches of government and that they in turn will accord him a hospitable greeting,” Hollihan notes. “To be invited to the Congress and then insulted is unacceptably rude behavior, akin to inviting someone to your home for dinner only to attack them.

“The heckling by Rep. Wilson was way over the top, and it should be condemned if for no other reason than that it sends a terrible message to other citizens about how a deliberating democracy should respect political differences and seek to win agreement on important and controversial issues,” Hollihan adds.

“It is, sadly in my opinion, a reflection of the increasingly partisan and counterproductive tenor of our times,” Hollihan concludes. “Fed by extremists on talk radio and Internet blog sites, too many of our citizens are losing their manners and their good judgment.”

Thomas Hollihan, professor of Communication at the USC Annenberg School, is an expert on political discourse, debate, and arguments that shape public policy. He is the author of Uncivil Wars: Political Campaigns in a Media Age (2001) and Arguments and Arguing: The Products and Processes of Human Decision Making (1994).