Former Sen. Bill Nelson discusses factors behind dysfunctional U.S. politics at Southeastern University town hall.

LAKELAND – Former Sen. Bill Nelson almost sounded happy that he didn’t win re-election last year.

Appearing spry and content, Nelson, 77, went through a laundry list of why our current national political atmosphere is so polarized and dysfunctional:

• Gerrymandering of U.S. House of Representatives districts that favors the parties in power.

• The undue influence of the far left and right wings on the Democratic and Republican primaries, respectively.

• The decline of out-of-work social relationships between members of the two parties.

• The toxic influence of social media and other new communication outlets on citizens, which allows them to isolate themselves only to information that fits their existing political outlooks.

– The influence of money and fundraising on officeholders.

– And, last but not least, the decline in civil discourse between people of different parties and beliefs.

“Democracy, in order to work, has to work from a common base of facts that everybody accepts,” Nelson said. “If we don’t have that, it’s going to be hard to get agreement.”

Nelson spoke for about an hour during a town hall titled “An Evening with a Statesman” Thursday evening at Southeastern University in Lakeland. Nearly 100 students and local civic leaders attended.

The university’s American Center for Political Leadership sponsored the event hosted by its director, former Republican U.S. Rep. Dennis Ross, and Rick Dantzler, the former Democratic state legislator and gubernatorial candidate. They presented Nelson with a Public Service and Civic Engagement Award in recognition of his 40-year career in state and federal government.

Before the event, the hosts and a video featuring bipartisan all-stars of Florida politics – Sen. Marco Rubio, who served with Nelson; U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist, a former governor; former Gov. Jeb Bush; and former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink – praised Nelson for his ability to embody the kind of civility and bipartisanship he advocated for.

Dantzler and Ross started the discussion with their own questions, and Nelson later took written questions from the audience. Virtually all questions concerned the dismal state of U.S. politics, although the subject of the impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump did not come up.

Nelson noted several times many of these trends, such as gerrymandering and incivility, are hardly new to American politics, going back to the nation’s founding. Others, such as social media influences and the decline of social relationships, are newer.

On the latter point, Nelson recalled that during his first term in the U.S. House in 1979, most members of Congress lived in Washington with their families all week and returned to their home districts only during breaks. They and family members socialized frequently across party and ideological lines during off hours and often formed close friendships.

Those relationships had political consequences, Nelson said. He cited the friendship between former Democratic House Speaker Tip O’Neill and his counterpart, Republican Minority Leader Robert Michel, and their relationship with former President Ronald Reagan.

When the Social Security Trust Fund appeared on the brink of insolvency in the 1980s, both men met socially and agreed the problem needed to be addressed without political recriminations on members of either party, he said. To this day, Social Security is known as the “third rail of politics” — touch it (by making changes), and you die.

That led to a deal that eventually resulted in Social Security reforms that led to solvency for the next 50 years, Nelson said.

“Can you imagine that being done today?” he added.

Toward the end of the town hall, Dantzler asked Nelson for solutions. He could offer none.

But his spouse, Grace Nelson, did.

Political leaders have to lead us out of the dysfunction, she said, but it’s also up to citizens and voters to demand more civility from leaders and themselves.

“It’s up to us to examine our consciences,” she said. “I still believe in love. I know that sounds naïve, but it’s the only thing that works.”

The political spouse got the last word.

Kevin Bouffard can be reached at kevin.bouffard@theledger.com or at 863-802-7591.