Apparently, the United States Senate has devolved to the point where elementary school approaches are needed to maintain civility.
Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine revealed to CNN that she had to use a trinket called a "talking stick" to help her colleagues learn the value of waiting until it is their turn to speak during recent negotiations over immigration and funding the federal government.
Because the bipartisan discussions to end the government shutdown were held in her Senate office, Collins asked her colleagues to pass around the stick so that everyone could have a chance to speak. Only the person holding the stick was to be allowed to speak.
"As you can see, it's beautifully beaded and it was given to me by my friend, Democratic Senator Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota. It is originally from Africa and it is used to help control the debate in a meeting, particularly when you have a large number of loquacious people," Collins told "New Day" anchor Chris Cuomo on Tuesday.
While one Republican senator told CNN that the talking stick had been successful, Cuomo asked Collins about a report that one senator had thrown the stick so hard that he had accidentally damaged some of Collins' property.
"I think a more accurate word would be that there was — usually, I would pick up the stick and take it from person to person, but sometimes it was tossed. And in this case, the toss went slightly amiss," Collins told Cuomo.
That said, she emphasized that the only casualty of the errant toss had been a glass elephant on her shelf, which was "chipped" during the incident. Since then, the talking stick has been replaced by a small rubber ball, according to CNN.
Sure, Collins may have excused the breaking of her glass elephant by saying that the offending senator had merely "forcefully delivered" the talking stick. Yes, another Republican senator may have retroactively described that event as contributing to "the most entertaining meeting" he or she had ever been to. But what does it say about the Senate that the lack of civility and self-control is so severe that methods most commonly associated with elementary schools have become necessary?
America's Senate seems to be populated by unruly children.
"The government shutdown is a sign of just how broken the Republican Party is. Why are we on the verge of a government shutdown?" David Frum, the senior editor of The Atlantic, told Salon Talks last week. "Well because there's certain, everyone just understands that there's a certain percentage of the Republican Party that will never vote for the financing to raise the debt ceiling to allow the government to continue to operate."
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