He stood there frothing at the mouth, shouting crazed expletives at me, his veins bulging all over his neck looking like they might explode. Within a few minutes, what began as a discussion turned into a barroom brawl involving many people, police cars, citations and court dates.

That may seem like the result of some brawl over a girl at any of the frequented downtown Bowling Green night spots. The argument was actually about abortion — why they were talking politics in a bar still baffles me to this day — but it’s one of those conversations in which people feel they have so much of a stake, it can often lead to violence. This is evident in the many passions a debate on health care tends to bring out of people in Obama’s era as president. The health care bill is also a great way of watching democracy work.

Democracy in the modern world also offers some of the most thrilling moments on television. Watching Republican Party members in the health care debates was more thrilling than Jack Bauer has been since “24” has been on the air. They seemed so passionate and enraged by Obama’s health care bill that you would think Obama had appointed Kim Jong Ill as vice-president. The Democrats were equally entertaining as they stood by their president and put on the fight of their lives.

Then, we have the advent of this new, uncontrolled fringe group of right-wingers, the Tea Party. All of a sudden, Obama’s era became a thrilling television show with twists and turns that would make the writers of the “Sopranos” envious.

People’s politics are ultimately about agendas, egos, personality clashes and passions. How we conduct our politics in this world is a reflection of arguments that happen daily. Arguments are defined as “a statement or set of statements that you use in order to try to convince people that your opinion about something is correct.”

Arguing is one of the first things we learn to do. Even a baby that can’t speak argues. Political arguments stem from the realization that, because one has a stake in this thing, they too must be allowed to contribute to how this thing runs. This thing could be anything from a company to a bunch of kids making the rules for a game of hide-and-seek. When people have a stake in something, they will make sure they argue and argue until an outcome that satisfies all is reached.

There is nothing more human than arguing. Few of our friends in the animal kingdom argue. Animals clash over matters of survival, like food, territory and the right to mate. In this health care bill, many passions have come to surface and people are fighting and debating. Some are mature about it and work within the social framework of decency and courtesy; others quickly turn to violence.

This isn’t new to democracy; violence is as human as speech. Violence speaks to an ancient animal like fury that’s raging within every one of us. The important thing is to keep those tendencies in check.

Democracy is an art form. At its best, it can achieve so much for a society, but at its worst, it can greatly polarize a people. Learning to be accepting of opposing opinions while being patient enough to analyze the opposition’s debate is at the heart of what makes a good participant in the democratic dance.

Extremists exist in every system; the only good thing is they are always the minority. The extremist reacts in the most violent way possible. He attempts to affect change either by threatening violence or being violent. His calls should never be listened to, for the day people heed the call of extremists is the day democracy loses. People should continue to debate, but do so in a healthy manner.

Ultimately, French political thinker Alexis de Tocqueville summed it up nicely when he said, “The genius of democracies is seen not only in the great number of new words introduced, but even more in the new ideas they express.”

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