AMERICA, WITH LIBERTY AND CIVILITY FOR ALL.

Byline: David Kronke Staff Writer

Having examined the ideological gulf separating the country in this election year, today the Daily News wonders if there is a way to bridge it. Despite Vice President Dick Cheney's advocacy of telling those you disagree with to attempt a possibly painful sexual maneuver, we asked politicians, authors and pundits spanning the divide: What will it take to assuage the polarization afflicting our nation today?

Answers were varied and, in some cases, strikingly partisan: Conservative columnist John Podhoretz, author of ``Bush Country,'' declared, ``How to narrow the ideological chasm is for liberals and leftists to stop defaming the president and stop undermining the war effort,'' while Al Franken, host of the liberal talk-radio network Air America and author of the seriocomic ``Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them,'' flatly stated, ``(Bush) has to get out of there. He really poisoned the country.''

``When you have true believers who know they have the only answer, it makes for a tough environment for compromise,'' observes Robert Greenwald, director of the films ``Uncovered: The War on Iraq'' and ``Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism.'' ``If one group of people are certain they know everything, there's an inexorable movement to this rage and anger and attack mode.''

``It gets wearying after a while, regardless of which side you're on,'' concedes Jerry Jenkins, author of the best-selling ``Left Behind'' series of Christian novels. ``With Clinton, everything revolved on one side loving him and the other side hating him. With Bush, it's been the same, only the sides switched. I hate that it took 9-11 to get us on the same page. You hear people say, 'I'll move out of the country if this guy is elected,' and I hate that. I'd like to see more civility. I may be diametrically opposed to someone, but I'm not going to demonize them - whoever it is, the guy is well-meaning.''

Ron Suskind, author of ``The Price of Loyalty,'' about former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill's misadventures in the Bush administration, adds, ``(Republican strategist) Grover Norquist has said, 'Bipartisanship is another name for date rape,' and for many, that's the view. Those who look for shared ground are mealy appeasers, as opposed to folks with a pure sensibility and the sweeping ideas that define everything. My view, echoed by historians, is that we have succeeded by finding a shared middle ground, what we call sound and sensible government. We clearly are not doing that now.''

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., declares, ``The people have got to demand a better brand of politics and campaigns, and how they will express their dissatisfaction is by demanding and voting for people who practice it. I'm afraid many might be just tuning out from politics.

``What you may see is a reform movement,'' McCain adds. ``Whether that is within the parties, a demand for reform of a lot of things we do or whether it will come from outside, I'm not sure. Ross Perot proved that there was a great dissatisfaction. Whether there will be the emergence of another billionaire who promises reform and to get rid of - what was the phrase? - the crazy aunt in the basement, or whether it's an organized grass-roots activity, I don't know. But the status quo is not going to prevail.''

Nature of the debate

Some commentators believe contentiousness has always been the status quo. CNN's Tucker Carlson says, ``The tension is inherent in the system, designed in order to prevent Congress from passing too many laws without thinking.'' Fox News Channel's John Gibson adds, ``I don't think it's all that uncivil right now. The 9-11 panel represents a bit of partisanship, with two sides investigating it and ensuring neither side gets stuck with the blame.''

Many interviewed believe a decisive electoral victory in November, regardless of the winner, could help quell dissent.

John Powers, author of the book ``Sore Winners,'' about the Bush administration, says, ``Having a president that a plurality of the country gets behind would be helpful.''

New York Times conservative columnist David Brooks notes, ``Florida (in the 2000 vote) really did have lasting legs. To emerge as a leader of the nation, the president would have to reach out across the normal lines, which George W. Bush has shown no willingness to do.''

Lionel Chetwynd, who wrote the pro-Bush film ``9/11: Time of Crisis,'' says of the president, ``He was never accepted. The attitude from the left was, he stole the election. He didn't win the popular vote, he rigged the Supreme Court; he's essentially evil. They'd tolerate him if he acts from the center. Rather than do that, he governed like he had a mandate. So he never had a chance.''

Chetwynd adds, ``Until we accept that we all, by and large, want the same thing for this country and for our neighbors, it's never going to go away. As long as one side considers itself morally superior, it won't go away. It'll go away when we become adults.''

Media shortcomings 

Others believe that the news media itself must be reformed, that journalists must become less interested in making names for themselves by promoting ideologies than in offering sober, balanced reportage.

``Everybody in the news media (benefits from) polarization, and I don't know how you get around that,'' Powers says. ``Whether it's talk radio, the Fox News Channel's approach to television or any aspect of the media, pushing hot buttons is a way to get attention. Ending polarization would take some self-discipline on the behalf of the media.''

Amy Goodman, host of Pacifica Radio's ``Democracy Now!'' and author of ``The Exception to the Rulers,'' concurs: ``We need a media that doesn't take sides with those in power, that allows for full discourse. That is the most important factor that could make a difference - just letting people speak for themselves, and letting people decide. People are not apathetic, but the media has not done them justice. ... There is a hunger right now for independent voices.''

Arianna Huffington, author of ``Fanatics and Fools: The Game Plan for Winning Back America,'' says, ``We need to see a different vision of this country. Ronald Reagan was not just an actor but a good speaker, and he spoke on big things. John Kerry has never been a great speaker, but he does speak of great things - he has that gravitas; watch his testimony about Vietnam in 1971. He should engage the nation in a larger vision for what kind of country they want to live in.

``Kerry has the megaphone to appeal to the better angels of our nature,'' she says, referring to a passage from Abraham Lincoln's first inaugural address.

John Kenneth White, author of ``The Values Divide,'' also echoes that same Lincoln speech: ``Our country is losing those mystic chords of memory, those common experiences that pull us together. The challenge that Bush has, that Kerry has, is to find ways to bring our country together. It won't be done through prescription drugs or lower taxes or education reform. It requires something bolder, a change in the spirit of the country.

``The secret is to find someone you disagree with and say, 'I understand your values; I respect your values,' '' White continues. ``Both sides believe their values aren't respected. ... We have to find ways to mutual respect, if not mutual understanding.''

Indeed, the last paragraph of Lincoln's first inaugural address, delivered on March 4, 1861, and recalled during the Democratic convention by John Kerry's wife, Teresa, rings true today:

``We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.''

David Kronke, [phone]

david.kronke(at)dailynews.com