Editorial: What's so wrong with some civility?

A good example of this occurred last week in a state legislative hearing in Carson City on a proposal to require public school students to carry identification cards, which was criticized as infringing on individual freedom. The Sun's Cy Ryan reported that Janine Hansen, president of the Eagle Forum, told the panel that the plan smacks of "Nazi Germany where you had to show papers to move on the streets."

Give us a break. Whether such a proposal could effectively cut down on truancy remains to be seen, but comparing a student identification-card requirement (which many colleges and universities require) to carrying papers in Nazi Germany is beyond the pale and does nothing to add to the debate as how to best combat truancy, a serious problem facing our schools.

No one side has a monopoly on the politics of fear and harsh rhetoric, but if politicians and interest groups continue the escalation, they'll soon find there will be no one around who will bother to listen. In today's politics, civility appears to be a virtue that is considered old fashioned, and that is too bad.

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