"He’s just going through a phase right now.” If you’re a parent, you know what that means. Whether it’s the Terrible Twos, awkward adolescence, or the risk-taking teen years, we hope and pray they’ll grow out of it. Most of them do.

Life goes through cycles. We know that the cold winter will turn into a warm spring, followed by the lush plants and scorching heat in the summer, and the colorful leaves and falling temperatures that take us back where we started.

America is in a difficult phase. Some might even call it a dangerous one. Our nation is marred by racism. All races feel it. We’ve been here before. Some people are calling for secession, or even a civil war. Yep, we’re coming back around to that kind of talk. Politicians who spent nearly four decades (roughly 1975 to the early 2010s) engaging in mostly civil discourse have been replaced by grenade tossers who prefer Twitter over town halls.

My frame of reference dates back to the 1960s. Those of us who lived through it remember, and those who were born later have seen the news footage, read the books, and watched the movies.

We had rioting in the streets. Black/White tension came to a head. A president was assassinated. So was his brother, a presidential candidate. So was the nation’s leading civil rights advocate. A presidential nominating convention turned into a Chicago-style brawl, in Chicago, of course. The nation was divided over an unpopular war.

The negativity spilled into the 1970s, when a crooked president was forced to resign, there were even more assassination attempts, and many White Americans openly cursed Black baseball star Henry Aaron as he dared to break Babe Ruth’s home run record.

This ugly period gradually fizzled out, for the most part. Presidents Ford and Carter were decent human beings who didn’t perform any political miracles, but at least set a good example with their behavior and demeanor.

Presidents Reagan and Bush (41) encountered some serious bumps in the road, particularly with our foreign adversaries, but both managed to keep the nation’s dialogue upbeat and mature. Both were also largely successful as role models.

As we moved into the 1990s, and the 21st century, President Clinton was a naughty boy behind closed doors, and paid dearly for his sins. But most of us had jobs, made money, and were relatively worry-free on the international front.

Life was not so easy under President Bush (43) as terrorists struck America early in his first term, and the economy sank near the end of his second term. In the awful aftermath of 9/11, our nation was united in our determination to rebound, and hold our enemies accountable. But it was around this time that our “civility phase” came to a close.

In 2008, we elected a Black president. Depending on your point of view, Barack Obama would soon come under attack for either (A) policies and statements that riled conservatives, or B) something else.

Even though our economy regained its footing under Obama, our political discourse began its rapid journey downward, and is showing no signs of slowing down.

As the divisive cable “news” channels and toxic social media sites have gained influence, our guard rails have been demolished.

During the 1975-2010 era, Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama sent people with character and dignity to the U.S. Capitol: Senators Baker, Brock, Alexander, Sasser, Thompson, Corker, Frist, Cleland, Nunn, Isakson, Fowler, Chambliss, Coverdell, Miller, Heflin, Denton, and Shelby, among others. Also Representatives Lloyd, Wamp, Darden, Deal, Graves, Flippo, and Cramer, to name a few. They made laws, reached across the aisle, and never embarrassed us.

These same states are now largely represented in the House and Senate by partisan attention seekers who have become punch lines, just like the 1960s era southern stereotypes who earned national scorn.

Our 1975-2010 Senators and Representatives used words like hope, compassion, benefits, veterans, and jobs.

Many of the current ones prefer these words: fight, communist, socialist, fake, destroy, steal, and kill. They would rather agitate than legislate.

We must ride out this current phase, vote wisely, and pray for a return of civility and intelligence.

David Carroll is a Chattanooga TV news anchor, and his new book “Hello Chattanooga” is available on his website, ChattanoogaRadioTV.com. You may contact him at 900 Whitehall Road, Chattanooga, TN 37405, or at RadioTV2020@yahoo.com.