# What political norms have been lost in the USA in recent decades?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-political-norms-have-been-lost-in-the-usa-in-recent-decades/792669>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [August 3, 2017, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-political-norms-have-been-lost-in-the-usa-in-recent-decades/792669 "2017-08-03T02:45:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 18

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\
**Post date:** [August 9, 2017, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-political-norms-have-been-lost-in-the-usa-in-recent-decades/792669/18 "2017-08-09T16:40:05Z")

</div>

The demonization of opposition seems to have grown in recent years. There was a time when political opposition was recognized as a difference of opinion, even a heated difference. But at the end of the day the parties (both political parties and individual participants to a disagreement on a single issue) respected one another as decent, if misguided, persons of good intent.

Now it seems more and more that there is a presumption that a political opponent’s opposition means that political opponent is a bad person. Ill motives are easily implied and assuming the worst of others seem de rigueur. This attitude makes it harder to reach across the aisle and deal in a bipartisan manner on other issues.

---

_[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-political-norms-have-been-lost-in-the-usa-in-recent-decades/792669)._