Snowed in at a Colonial Williamsburg hotel.
No, this is not the start of a Hallmark holiday movie.
Instead, it’s the story of Congress’ 2017 freshman class that, days after being sworn into office, bonded in a most bipartisan fashion over a shared vision for civility in government.
Leading the charge for courteousness and commonality: newly minted Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA).
“It turned into sort of like a summer camp experience because we were literally closed into the hotel. That actually turned out to be a great thing because we bonded very well as a class,” said Johnson — now speaker of the House and supporter of former President Donald Trump — when recalling the retreat at an event hosted by D.C. think tank, the Bipartisan Policy Center, in footage exclusively obtained by Raw Story.
From “Republican and Democrat, coast to coast, all states,” the 55 freshmen representatives gathered around a U-shaped table on the last day of the retreat for a parting discussion around the problem of divisiveness in American politics. They delayed their train rides home even “as the snow began to melt,” Johnson said.
Screen grab of Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) speaking at the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Restoring Democracy” event in April 2018. Video courtesy of the Bipartisan Policy Center.
“Every single member, regardless of their political persuasion, where they were on the political spectrum, virtually everyone said almost the same thing. They said ‘I’m sick of the tone of politics in our nation and in Washington, and you know what, I’d really like to do this differently. When I committed to run for office, I wanted to do this differently,’” Johnson said at the event.
Inspired by the retreat, Johnson drafted a “Commitment to Civility,” dated Jan. 10, 2017 — seven years ago this month — and signed by 46 of the freshman members of the 115th Congress, including the likes of Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and James Comer (R-KY). Later, the signers would grow to more than 120 members of Congress.
Together, they called out the nation’s challenges of “increasing division in and coarsening of our culture fueled too often by the vitriol in our politics and public discourse.”
They lamented the “loss of trust in our institutions and elected officials.”
They affirmed their belief in a “better alternative” — one involving “showing proper respect,” “encouraging productive dialogue and modeling civility in our public and private actions.”
Johnson didn’t stop there.
He and then-Rep. Charlie Crist (D-FL) joined together to create the Honor and Civility Caucus — a bipartisan body dedicated to improving “the tone of the nation’s politics and public discourse.”
They also proposed legislation for a National Day of Civility on July 12, inspired by the Biblical verse Matthew 7:12, according to a December 2017 press release. The bill gained 78 co-sponsors who promoted the legislation as part of a “Summer of Civility” campaign.
“As the nation’s leaders, members of Congress should aspire to the highest standards and set an example of personal integrity, decency and mutual respect for the generations of Americans that will follow,” said Johnson and Crist in a joint statement. “We can be stalwarts of our respective policy positions without tearing one another down.”
They continued: “Although the members of this caucus will represent both political parties and a wide range of individual views across the political spectrum, our belief is that we can disagree in an agreeable manner and maintain collegiality and the honor of our office. Our aim is to help reverse the increasing divisions in and coarsening of our culture.”
But as then-President Trump became an evermore divisive force and any remaining congressional comity eroded, Johnson’s ambitions of harmony likewise started to dissipate.
Today, Johnson is defending “MAGA warriors” — a term he used in a fundraising email last week…
This article was originally published by a www.rawstory.com . Read the Original article here. .