The Discerning Texan
All that is necessary for evil to triumph, is for good men to do nothing.
-- Edmund Burke
-- Edmund Burke
Saturday, November 20, 2004
A plea to my countrymen
I saw clips of Tom Daschle’s farewell speech, and my first thought was: how different might things have been had Daschle actually brought this attitude to the day to day negotiations in the Senate... Nevertheless I must admit that I did appreciate his sentiments:
In a speech notable for its lofty aspirations and lack of recriminations, Daschle challenged his colleagues to work together in the same spirit that united them briefly in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
"If I could leave this body with one wish, it would be that we never give up that search for common ground," he said. "The politics of common ground will not be found on the far right or on the far left -- that is not where most Americans live."
As his voice strained but never broke, Daschle expressed optimism that the Senate would rise to the challenge.
I was talking to a liberal acquaintance the other day and it struck me that democracy works best when there is reasonable intellectual dialogue between different points of view, rather than when both sides are so insulated from the other that hurling acrimonious ICBM’s at anything or anyone having to do with the “other side” becomes the only means of discourse.
Even this person at times seemed more interested in telling me what a fool I was personally (and thus justifying to himself—and to no one else-- his own “moral superiority”) than he was wanting to discuss actual intellectual points or than he even cared what my point of view was. He was so tragically intransigent in his own point of view that he has disowned his own mother, presumably simply because she voted for Bush and believed in him. And he has refused to answer phone calls from former friends who supported the President for the same reason. This was a truly angry, bitter person; What a tragedy when you can both empathize with a fellow human being yet at the same time see that he was stewing mostly in a cauldron of his own making. Is this what our country has come to?
So long as individuals believe that they know everything that there is to know about a subject as complex as geopolitics, and who further believe that there is zero room for any opposing point of view, we are in great danger in this society. For that is totalitarianism taken to the individaul level.
And it isn’t just bitter Democrats who have this problem; I know many of my fellow conservatives are guilty of this too, and I see that as equally wrong and equally dangerous. We must stop relying on the intellecutlly lazy habit of painting with too broad a brush about “Republicans” or “Democrats”, and to start talking about people as individuals again. And we must all wake up and realize that we don't and can't know everything. We must be open to facts that adjust our course, rather than allowing our course to adjust the facts. Because this country is on a very dangerous precipice right now. And it is time for us all to take stock and to recognize our collective insanity before it is too late.
Perhaps it my Mediation training and Negotiation background talking; but it nevertheless struck me while listening to this man rail against my own personal “ignorance” that I was able to step back from my own tendency to take things personally and to get defensive to take an objective look at the dynamics of what was taking place. And I concluded that this tact of constantly demeaning people who do not believe exactly as you do can never result in cooperation and bipartisanship and real progress in “uniting” this country. The more difficult, but critical task is to try to reason with people who see things differently; to articulate in a non-threatening way why you think what you think; and then to discern the motivations, assumptions, and even commonalities underlying the other's opinion. And you can only do this by listening to them, not merely by trying to out-shout them. Otherwise it is a lose-lose. (NOTE: I am not talking about attempting such methods with Islamic Jihadists who have no interest in anything save the killing of non-Muslims—I am speaking about the need discourse between the “right” and “left” in this country…)
For all the angry talk from the left of Bush not being a “uniter”, some of the same people making that accusation just can’t wait to start slinging mud at anyone who does not agree with their personal point of view. Shows like “Crossfire” and “Hardball” don’t do anything to help the situation in our culture, and indeed shows like this degrade, rather than enhance, the level of cooperative information-sharing.
The fact in a 50/50 society is that to truly unite this country we need the other side too; and if we do not want to someday see this country in flames a la 1861-65, then we need to find a better way to conduct ourselves than to continue to spew invective about each other and threatening each other based solely on our interpretation of their “group”; and then turning around and expecting those same people to suddenly see things from our point of view. That is insanity.
After the unprecedented bitter acrimony of this past election; and because so many people are still so angry still about the results, it is time to drop the walls we have erected around our points of view and start to talk intelligently again about what we do have in common, and about common values that we do agree on.
Daschle is right--common ground is sorely needed: but that will only work if BOTH sides try to find it. A little more shared gratitude, a little more respectful sharing of viewpoints of minus the ugly personal attacks, and a lot less of the hate and vitriol would be the best thing that could possibly happen to this country right now. To see the majority of Americans genuinely cooperating toward common goals would be a welcome change.
Personally I do not want to have to live through another Civil War. So maybe we can all start to save civilization simply by being civil to each other.
One need only look at the situation between Israel and Palestine as a perfect example of what not to emulate. And what I just witnessed during this last election cycle, particularly from the angry left, was unlike anything I have seen in this country before. We are at a dangerous precipice in this complex society, and we need to step back. We have turn this thing around together, before it is too late for all of us, and for our country.
To my like minded friends on the right: we can achieve a lot of what we want to achieve without steamrolling over half of the country. Yes, we are in the majority now. But that does not mean we cannot listen to reasonable arguments that are not 100% in sync with our “party line”. We have to rule the whole country, not merely the red states.
And to my friends on the left: don’t believe that the means to your ends lies in telling anyone and everyone how much you hate Republicans, and how stupid and incompetent we all are, and then expecting any person in power to do you any favors. Or any Republican not in power for that matter... You simply don’t shoot the finger at someone on the one hand and then expect that person to listen to your reasonable arguments on the other. Civilization begins with the individual, and it starts with treating other people, even people you disagree with (perhaps especially those people), with dignity and respect. A thousand mile journey begins with the first step… and dammit, I want my country back. So let’s get started.
In a speech notable for its lofty aspirations and lack of recriminations, Daschle challenged his colleagues to work together in the same spirit that united them briefly in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
"If I could leave this body with one wish, it would be that we never give up that search for common ground," he said. "The politics of common ground will not be found on the far right or on the far left -- that is not where most Americans live."
As his voice strained but never broke, Daschle expressed optimism that the Senate would rise to the challenge.
I was talking to a liberal acquaintance the other day and it struck me that democracy works best when there is reasonable intellectual dialogue between different points of view, rather than when both sides are so insulated from the other that hurling acrimonious ICBM’s at anything or anyone having to do with the “other side” becomes the only means of discourse.
Even this person at times seemed more interested in telling me what a fool I was personally (and thus justifying to himself—and to no one else-- his own “moral superiority”) than he was wanting to discuss actual intellectual points or than he even cared what my point of view was. He was so tragically intransigent in his own point of view that he has disowned his own mother, presumably simply because she voted for Bush and believed in him. And he has refused to answer phone calls from former friends who supported the President for the same reason. This was a truly angry, bitter person; What a tragedy when you can both empathize with a fellow human being yet at the same time see that he was stewing mostly in a cauldron of his own making. Is this what our country has come to?
So long as individuals believe that they know everything that there is to know about a subject as complex as geopolitics, and who further believe that there is zero room for any opposing point of view, we are in great danger in this society. For that is totalitarianism taken to the individaul level.
And it isn’t just bitter Democrats who have this problem; I know many of my fellow conservatives are guilty of this too, and I see that as equally wrong and equally dangerous. We must stop relying on the intellecutlly lazy habit of painting with too broad a brush about “Republicans” or “Democrats”, and to start talking about people as individuals again. And we must all wake up and realize that we don't and can't know everything. We must be open to facts that adjust our course, rather than allowing our course to adjust the facts. Because this country is on a very dangerous precipice right now. And it is time for us all to take stock and to recognize our collective insanity before it is too late.
Perhaps it my Mediation training and Negotiation background talking; but it nevertheless struck me while listening to this man rail against my own personal “ignorance” that I was able to step back from my own tendency to take things personally and to get defensive to take an objective look at the dynamics of what was taking place. And I concluded that this tact of constantly demeaning people who do not believe exactly as you do can never result in cooperation and bipartisanship and real progress in “uniting” this country. The more difficult, but critical task is to try to reason with people who see things differently; to articulate in a non-threatening way why you think what you think; and then to discern the motivations, assumptions, and even commonalities underlying the other's opinion. And you can only do this by listening to them, not merely by trying to out-shout them. Otherwise it is a lose-lose. (NOTE: I am not talking about attempting such methods with Islamic Jihadists who have no interest in anything save the killing of non-Muslims—I am speaking about the need discourse between the “right” and “left” in this country…)
For all the angry talk from the left of Bush not being a “uniter”, some of the same people making that accusation just can’t wait to start slinging mud at anyone who does not agree with their personal point of view. Shows like “Crossfire” and “Hardball” don’t do anything to help the situation in our culture, and indeed shows like this degrade, rather than enhance, the level of cooperative information-sharing.
The fact in a 50/50 society is that to truly unite this country we need the other side too; and if we do not want to someday see this country in flames a la 1861-65, then we need to find a better way to conduct ourselves than to continue to spew invective about each other and threatening each other based solely on our interpretation of their “group”; and then turning around and expecting those same people to suddenly see things from our point of view. That is insanity.
After the unprecedented bitter acrimony of this past election; and because so many people are still so angry still about the results, it is time to drop the walls we have erected around our points of view and start to talk intelligently again about what we do have in common, and about common values that we do agree on.
Daschle is right--common ground is sorely needed: but that will only work if BOTH sides try to find it. A little more shared gratitude, a little more respectful sharing of viewpoints of minus the ugly personal attacks, and a lot less of the hate and vitriol would be the best thing that could possibly happen to this country right now. To see the majority of Americans genuinely cooperating toward common goals would be a welcome change.
Personally I do not want to have to live through another Civil War. So maybe we can all start to save civilization simply by being civil to each other.
One need only look at the situation between Israel and Palestine as a perfect example of what not to emulate. And what I just witnessed during this last election cycle, particularly from the angry left, was unlike anything I have seen in this country before. We are at a dangerous precipice in this complex society, and we need to step back. We have turn this thing around together, before it is too late for all of us, and for our country.
To my like minded friends on the right: we can achieve a lot of what we want to achieve without steamrolling over half of the country. Yes, we are in the majority now. But that does not mean we cannot listen to reasonable arguments that are not 100% in sync with our “party line”. We have to rule the whole country, not merely the red states.
And to my friends on the left: don’t believe that the means to your ends lies in telling anyone and everyone how much you hate Republicans, and how stupid and incompetent we all are, and then expecting any person in power to do you any favors. Or any Republican not in power for that matter... You simply don’t shoot the finger at someone on the one hand and then expect that person to listen to your reasonable arguments on the other. Civilization begins with the individual, and it starts with treating other people, even people you disagree with (perhaps especially those people), with dignity and respect. A thousand mile journey begins with the first step… and dammit, I want my country back. So let’s get started.
