November 01, 2010 12:11 AM UTC

Acknowledging the Integrity of our Opponents

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• by: DavidThi808

From Jon Stewart’s closing statement at the Rally:

The country’s 24-hour, political pundit perpetual panic conflictinator did not cause our problems, but its existence makes solving them that much harder. The press can hold its magnifying glass up to our problems, bringing them into focus, illuminating issues heretofore unseen. Or they can use that magnifying glass to light ants on fire, and then perhaps host a week of shows on the dangerous, unexpected flaming ants epidemic. If we amplify everything, we hear nothing.

…

We hear every damned day about how fragile our country is, on the brink of catastrophe, torn by polarizing hate, and how it’s a shame that we can’t work together to get things done. The truth is, we do! We work together to get things done every damned day! The only place we don’t is here (in Washington) or on cable TV!

And from Jeff Jarvis (about the Rally):

Stewart was raising a standard for how our alleged leaders should respect us so we could respect them in return. “Because the image of Americans that is reflected back to us by our political and media process is false,” he said. Stewart was doing nothing less than resetting the relationship of the powerful to the public. He was re-empowering us. His speech and his event were profoundly democratic. Not Democratic or Democrat–democratic.

Media took most of his barbs and for good reason. I must confess that I came away feeling a bit ashamed to be a member of the media and journalism tribe (even as I played hooky from the Online News Association’s annual confab uptown). Stewart and Colbert rightfully castigated us. Oh, yes, they aimed mostly at cable news. “The country’s 24-hour political pundit perpetual panic conflictinator did not cause our problems but its existence makes solving them that much harder,” Stewart said.

But the rest of us in the news business are not blameless. We, too, monetize fright. We are evil coaches on grade school playgrounds, making sides and then pitting them against each other. When we in the press included TV and cable news people in our journalistic club and rejected bloggers and citizens, we legitimized them. When we don’t repudiate their ways, we excuse them. Shame on all of us.

I found the Rally very moving. More than anything else, in the spirit shown by the people there. People who came to state they are in favor of reasonableness and acknowledging each other as fellow human beings. Looking for what unites us rather than focusing on the differences we have. And then there was Jon Stewart’s closing statement which struck me as key to what we need to do. To work together on solutions, acknowledging disagreements but then working together.

He called out Congress and the 24 hour news networks for doubling down on disagreement, being part of the problem rather than part of the solution. And that is true, but we in the political blogosphere are equally at fault. Our impact may be less, but our efforts all too often are identical – to make disagreements gigantic and ignore agreements. To focus on conflicts rather than solutions.

It’s easy to point at the other side and tell them what they should do different. What’s difficult is to speak about where we, our side, have focused on differences for partisan advantage rather than looking to where we can work together to address the problems we face. In all too many cases we look for the parts where we differ so we can fight, rather than the parts where we agree.

So here goes my paying penance:

I’ve possibly spent more time interviewing Republicans in this state than any other liberal blogger. And without exception I have found them to be people who sincerely want to do what is best for our state. And who approach the issues they see in front of us thoughtfully. They are each imperfect. They make mistakes. They have blind spots. But that just means they’re human beings – like the rest of us.

Ken Buck has been honest about his views on abortion when the politically opportunistic thing for him to do would have been a much softer stance. The question of when life becomes human is a fundamental philosophical question where there is no way to prove what the correct answer is. So we each must find our own answer. And he has been pilloried for being “anti-woman” when this is a question that disproportionately impacts women, but that does not make it anti-woman. Saying women should not have jobs or should submit to their husbands – that is anti-woman. But we all agree that once you have a child, that imposes dramatic restrictions on your life as a parent.

Tom Tancredo has focused most of his attention on illegal immigration. And immigration politics has always been tightly tied to racism. But at the same time very few people propose that we open the borders to allow anyone to come in at any time. To quote Jon Stewart “Not being able to distinguish between real racists and Tea Party-ers, or real bigots and Juan Williams or Rick Sanchez is an insult–not only to those people, but to the racists themselves, who have put in the exhausting effort it takes to hate.” Tom Tancredo has by and large focused on the economic impact of illegal immigration.

I’ve talked to a number of Republican legislators (special props to Senators Penry & Brophy) and they are all focused on what is best for the state of Colorado. They believe that the state government needs to address waste & inefficiency. Any honest answer to that should be that yes, like every organization, waste & inefficiency exists in our government. To claim otherwise strains credibility. Their first reaction to any issue is to ask if the private sector can address it. But shouldn’t we want some to be looking in that direction?

And in all this, what we all want tends to be the same thing. Listening to a Republican listing out the basic problems we face is very close to listening to a Democrat. I may (mostly) disagree with their solutions, but I respect their intentions and their efforts. And I acknowledge that there may be times where they are right and I am wrong.

Fundamentally we are not Democrats & Republicans, fundamentally we are Americans. And that means that when we look to address problems, when we vote, when we speak and write, in all those cases we should do what is best for America, not what is best for party or self. Exaggerating our differences for partisan advantage is harming our political discourse and contributing to our gridlock.

I leave this with a final quote from Jon Stewart:

Most Americans don’t live their lives solely as Democrats, Republicans, liberals or conservatives. Americans live their lives more as people that are just a little bit late for something they have to do. Often something they do not want to do! But they do it. Impossible things, every day, that are only made possible through the little, reasonable compromises we all make.

…

Because we know, instinctively, as a people, that if we are to get through the darkness and back into the light, we have to work together. And the truth is there will always be darkness, and sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel isn’t the promised land.