With ten weeks to go before the midterm elections, the country is embroiled in conversations that are anything but calm.
Looking at social media, you’d think we were just one big argument. But reports say the extreme positions we see blaring at us on various platforms represent the views of only 6 per cent of the electorate, while 80 per cent of us don’t dwell on the fringes at all. That means a lot of people are taking in information, reflecting, thinking things through, even changing their views every once in a while. Such mental processing isn’t loud….it might not make itself into a meme…but it’s important. Because it’s most of us.
Traveling around the country, I’ve seen that when you really sit down and talk to people, we’re as purple as purple can be. Yes, what the Left says about a particular issue is true. And yes, what the Right says about the same issue might also be true. Several things can be true at once. We need to reject the silo-ization of political opinions that has left us so unable to hear one another, or to realize that those who don’t agree with us about one thing might possibly have a very good point about something else. When we’re stuck in our silos, no one learns or grows. Conversations become calcified and stagnant. We see ourselves as so divided, but we don’t have to be if we’d saunter out of our self-imposed mental prisons every once in a while. We can even enjoy political conversations then. Not every disagreement has to be a fight.
Years ago, right before the 2004 Presidential election, I was visiting my family in Houston. A close family friend was with us, someone who was also a good friend of the Bush family and who at the time was working for First Lady Laura Bush. During dinner one night Alicia joined us in taking one of those online tests where they ask you your position about this or that, then match you with the Presidential candidate most aligned with your views. I remember how surprised she was to see that her best match was Dennis Kucinich!
It shouldn’t have been so surprising. President Eisenhower once said, “The American mind at its best is both liberal and conservative.” And never have labels been so meaningless as they are now. At best, Left and Right are ying and yang, together forming a higher truth. There are high-minded principles on both Left and Right, and no group or political viewpoint has a monopoly on what’s true.
Extremism feeds on controversy, however. Extremism on either side of the political spectrum undermines not only our national unity but the very fabric of our society. It makes enemies of people with whom we should not be enemies. I see things on both sides of the political spectrum these days that make my skin crawl. On the Right, making excuses for Trump’s obvious corruption and cruelty is anything but conservative, or patriotic. And on the Left, inclusion shouldn’t mean only including the people you like. And it damn sure shouldn’t mean vilifying Jews. Anytime your ideology blinds you to common sense, to compassion, or to openness to new ideas, you’re in a mental prison. And the extremes people are leaning into now can be horrifying. I hear an old song ringing in my head these days, with the words “Stalin to the Left of me, Hitler to the Right, here I am…stuck in the middle with you…”
Obviously, we don’t want the leftover malevolence of either Stalin or Hitler. We want a decent and intelligent politics based on decidedly American values, none of which align with the evil dictators that both of them were.
An old order is falling away, to be sure, and each us needs to take responsibility for what comes next. Out of the chaos, a new and higher order can emerge - but only if we make room for it, and only if we forge it. Most of us could afford to beef up our knowledge of American history, for one thing (my books Healing the Soul of America and The Politics of Love are primers you might enjoy). Whether we lean Right or we lean Left, we’re at our best when joined by a common fealty to America’s First Principles. They are the glue that hold us together.
E pluribus unum - out of many, one - is a unifying creed. All men are created equal is a unifying creed. Freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom to peacefully protest, and freedom of assembly are unifying creeds. A commitment to fair elections is a unifying creed. A commitment to due process is a unifying creed. The idea that no man is above the law is a unifying creed. A respect for three co-equal branches of government is a unifying creed. To be clear, extremists on neither Right nor Left give a damn about any of those things.
We need to forge an intelligent middle. And by that I do not mean centrist politics, which tend to be mere protection of a status quo. I mean the magnetic quality of a dedication to American values, both those which emphasize personal responsibility, as well as those which emphasize government’s role in protecting the common good. In fact, both matter. Of course there are times when the two are in a tug-of-war, and democracy can be messy. But the country belongs to all of us and the politics we need now is one in which we remember that. We can’t ask God to Bless America if we’re not willing to bless Americans. Another song lyric that keeps playing in my head these days is, “Nobody’s right, if everybody’s wrong.”
I was on Jeff Krasno’s Commune podcast the other day, as well. His questions helped me wrap up my thoughts about campaigns past, as well as focus more squarely on the path that lies ahead. Let’s GOOO, America! We have ten weeks left before November 3ed…a day which, no matter what, will be a day that goes down in America history. Let’s pray it be peaceful, that the election be fair, and that the very best of who we are shine forth.
