[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 31 (Wednesday, March 12, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H894-H895]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        THE ELEMENTS OF A CIVIL DEBATE ON THE FLOOR OF THE HOUSE

  (Mr. GUTKNECHT asked and was given permission to address the House

[[Page H895]]

for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GUTKNECHT. Mr. Speaker, I have been a Member of this Congress now 
for 2 years, and too often I have seen Members come to the well of this 
House and demonize, trivialize, and personalize the debate. I was happy 
to have participated in the conference up in Hershey, PA, because I 
think it is time that we stop this poisoning of the well of this great 
Chamber.
  I told a story that happened back in the Continental Congress. 
Benjamin Franklin one time, at the end of a couple of days of very, 
very bitter debate in the Continental Congress, rose slowly at the back 
of the Chamber one morning and he said, ``Let us for a moment, Mr. 
Speaker, contemplate our own fallibility.''
  Mr. Speaker, let us commit ourselves to vigorous but fair debate. Let 
us do it with humility. Let us do it with humor. If we do, I think both 
this body and the body politic will be well served.

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