Be Civil, or Else

Laws have historically helped to bring a measure of civility into conduct in America, but only to the extent they addressed basic rights and public values, such as the equality of races or sexes. Efforts to reform character through law, as some state and federal lawmakers are trying to do these days, have been largely ineffective or downright harmful. Prohibition against drinking alcohol, for example, created a new class of criminals but did little to instill virtue.

Public dissatisfaction with moral values is widespread. In a 1996 poll, The Times found eight out of 10 Americans believed that civility had declined. They had plenty of evidence, including road rage and the use of foul language on television, in the movies and in public.

People mostly blame the breakdown of the family, children’s lack of respect for adults and the avoidance of personal responsibility for the moral depredation.

Aghast at the April massacre at Columbine High, the nation embarked on a collective lament of a culture of violence, vowing to take action. Morality became politically hot, and legislators saw an opening. Some of the response wasn’t clear even to the proponents. Louisiana state Sen. Don Cravins proposed a law requiring students to address teachers and school employees as “Ma’am” and “Sir.” When asked whether the bill would help avoid school violence, he said: “Hell, I don’t know. But we’ve got to do something.” The bill passed by a wide margin.

In the meantime, legislation that could produce concrete improvement faces opposition. The Louisiana Legislature is trying to scuttle a product liability lawsuit brought by New Orleans against gun makers; the Legislature’s effort would bar a new route to gun control. In Texas, Gov. George W. Bush has signed a bill banning cities from suing gun makers.

The U.S. House of Representatives did no better, defeating gun control legislation but voting to authorize the states to post the Ten Commandments in public schools. The commandments bill was put forth as a better way to keep children from killing children. Never mind that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled a similar law in Tennessee unconstitutional in 1980.

Morality is in season in Michigan as well. A court there earlier this month dredged up a century-old law to punish a man who swore in front of children when his canoe capsized. Closer to home, a Montebello real estate agent is leading a drive for a ballot initiative to outlaw marital infidelity in California.

To be sure, schoolchildren should be taught to be polite, honest and considerate. But what disturbs Deborah L. Rhode of Stanford Law School is what she calls the tokenism of all this and the waste of legislative resources.

More important, it is hardly the task of politicians to imbue society with civility. The last time the states tried to set detailed rules of human conduct, they produced the infamously racist Jim Crow laws and laid the groundwork for a century and a half of segregation.