Over the past two years, Academy Award-winner Richard Dreyfuss has undertaken a campaign for civility in political discourse. To aide in achieving this civility, he launched the Dreyfuss Initiative in 2010, the proximate of goal of which was to promote “a…diverse variety of websites representing disparate political opinions… to foster a discussion related to the future of America.” (His stated goals for a revival of civility even reach into K-12 classrooms, for which he is personally designing a curriculum to ignite students’ interest in Civics once more.)

Oh yes, and I almost forgot to mention that he sees nothing uncivil about the fact that MSNBC’s Ed Schultz wishes that former Vice President Dick Cheney would die.

That’s right: When recently asked about comments Schultz made in March 2009, wherein Schultz called Cheney an “enemy of the country” and prayed that God would soon whisk him away to “the Promised Land,” Dreyfus said the words were “beautifully phrased.” (Moreover, Hollywood’s self-proclaimed crusader for civility is on record saying that when he prepared to play Cheney in the movie “W.,” he did so by searching his own heart to find “villainy in the world.”)

It’s kind of discombobulating isn’t it? First, Dreyfuss bemoans lacks of civility in political discourse so he founds the Dreyfuss Initiative to help foster civility in our discourse again. Secondly, he bemoans the diminished study of Civics, which he views as a basis for civility, thus he forges a curriculum to restore the study of Civics (and therefore promote civility). Finally, he then calls Cheney a villain and says that Schultz’s prayers for Cheney’s death were “beautifully phrased.”

In all these things, Dreyfuss perfectly demonstrates why salt-of-the-earth Americans look at Hollywood as out of touch with the real world. His personal lack of civility has undermined any efforts he might exert to better political discourse and turned his otherwise admirable endeavors into little more than a bad joke.

And for civility’s sake, let me add one more thing: God Bless Dick Cheney.