By Abby McCloskey | Updated on Aug 16, 2026 at 01:00 PM
Can a modern democracy function without civility? We are in the process of finding out.
A Brit recently implored me at a dinner party: Can your country start by being civil? He was referring to President Donald Trump’s behavior on Truth Social, which needs no further elaboration.
But the point is a broader one. Our public square is dominated by vulgarity and ideological polarization. Civic restraint and virtue feel like relics of a bygone era. This is the case pretty much anywhere you look in American politics — from the politicians themselves to constituents to the anonymous taunting online.
It has me thinking about manners. I spent a recent Sunday in the church of 18th- and 19th-century British abolitionist William Wilberforce. I put my hand on the dark wooden desk where the abolition documents were rumored to have been signed. I don’t often feel chills, but I did then.
I used to find it strange that alongside something so incredibly significant as ending slavery, Wilberforce called for a revival of manners in England. The Yorkshire MP wrote in his diary: “God Almighty has set before me two great objects, the suppression of the Slave Trade and the reformation of manners.”
But the manners he meant weren’t of the which-fork-to-use variety. Rather, he was speaking of the manners that undergird the social contract. That how we think about, act toward and speak to one another reflects something deeper: whether we believe that other humans are worthy of respect.
More than two centuries ago and an ocean away, Wilberforce believed that a rotten moral foundation led to the structural injustice of slavery. People had stopped believing in human dignity. He worried civility and virtue in his country had been replaced with greed, moral apathy, corruption and vice.
Without addressing the foundation, more injustices would continue to rise up.
Does America face a similar crisis in manners today? After all, few, if any, would argue that American political life is at an apex of civility. It seems to get more hateful, corrupt and divided by the day.
We are far more likely than those in other countries to believe that our fellow citizens are immoral , according to a Pew Research Center study from earlier this year. Much of our political life has become pointing fingers. Majorities in both parties seem to think those in the opposing party are more immoral and dishonest, according to a 2022 survey by Pew.
Both conservatives and liberals in America have huge gaps when it comes to manners, as Wilberforce thought of them. Here I’m not talking only about crude bumper stickers or poor social media conduct, but about respect for human dignity.
The political right defends unlimited gun rights at the cost of countless mass shootings. “Free speech” is invoked to defend a raft of deeply corrosive comments and vile content online. And, closer to my heart, there’s the anti-abortion movement. It fashions itself as almost abolitionist. However, since Roe has been overturned, the movement has appeared aimless or punitive because its concern for life seems to end at birth. This is in sharp contrast to the movement’s inception in America a century ago , which included a large array of other concerns.
On the political left, while there can be deep concern for the marginalized, it is too often accompanied by scorn for anyone labeled (correctly or not) “privileged.” Religion — an institution that has helped to form the basis of morality for thousands of years — is too often dismissed, disparaged or legislated against (such as requiring Catholic organizations to provide contraception coverage). And while there’s much talk about care for the poor, households led by conservatives donate approximately 30% more to charity than those led by liberals, according to Harvard professor Arthur C. Brooks.
Your examples might differ. But might we agree that there are areas to improve all around? I’m not sure America is in the mood for a Wilberforce-esque Proclamation Society, even if it wasn’t accompanied by things like prosecuting Sabbath-breaking. Nevertheless, we seem to be in a bit of a civility spiral.
Heading into midterms this autumn, I anticipate a further downturn. Campaign seasons tend to be marked with sharper rhetoric. Restraint will seem in even rarer supply.
Politics has always been brutish. I get that. But might it also be the case that America is missing a shared agreement to treat one another with basic human dignity — the very thing Wilberforce called manners?
More From Bloomberg Opinion:
Want more Bloomberg Opinion? OPIN <GO>. Or subscribe to our daily newsletter .