You know what’s wrong with American political discourse these days? We spend 90% of it tearing each other down and the other 10% trying to prove our side is right. At no point do we approach a problem with a pragmatic and constructive point of view that says “we both have good points, let’s just solve this”.
I say this because of my observations of my politically active friends. I’m sure you all have someone like this in your Facebook feed. They’re the ones always posting the latest article about what president Obama is doing or why you should be outraged over something some politician did. I have four of five friends like these, from both sides of the political spectrum. I’ve looked at what these folks post and I’ve found something remarkable. None of them actually posts constructive thoughts. None of them posts suggestions on how to fix the problems our country faces. All they post are political articles that distort the truth in an attempt to inflame emotions by showing how awful and evil the other side is.
My liberal friends will post stories about how the GOP is trying to destroy our civil rights and out of context videos of some small town mayor in Texas saying something stupid and then urge everyone to oppose republicans who are seeking to sell our country to rich corporations. My conservative friends post stories about how Obama is trying to destroy our economy and some out of context speeches from a no name democratic strategist and then urge everyone to oppose democrats who are seeking to turn the US into a communist haven. None of them post fresh ideas on how to solve the problems we face in education, jobs or healthcare. None of them are willing to admit the other side may have a good point. None of them are even talking about what their side is trying to do. All they want to talk about is how awful and evil the side they oppose is.
This Is Not Constructive
None of these people realize that they are part of the problem, not the solution. They can’t see that they’re the reason our country is broken nor do they understand how destructive their behavior is. They think if only they can post more and more extreme political assassination articles, they’re going to “convince” us that the other side is awful. If only they could show us how nefarious and evil the other side is, we’d join them and sweep away our opposition in a frenzy of idealist emotions. If these people were a married couple, each argument would devolve into “well, you’re a horrible bitch who’s trying to bankrupt our family” and “well, you’re a horrible asshole who’s trying to sell our kids of as slaves” as they both tried to convince the kids that they’re the good parent. Does this sound productive? Does it sound like a marriage that’s going to last and thrive?
The fact is that if your relationship has devolved to the stage where you hate and despise the other side so much that all you care about is proving they suck, you’ve already lost. There’s no coming back from this. There’s no way to recover when neither side is interested in working together. Now if we’re talking about marriage, where both sides will eventually just walk away and get a divorce, that’s one thing. It’s a sad thing and it could have been avoided, but hey, that’s just one family. But we’re not talking about a family here, we’re talking about our country. We’re talking about the future of our kids.
I don’t know about you, but I want my kids to grow up in a stable, prosperous environment, not one that looks like the last days of the Roman Republic.
So Let’s Change This
You remember my idea for a cult? Yah, let’s be a cult. Let’s be a cult of reasonable people who’s not interested in stupid and destructive arguments. Let’s tell our friends (and our politicians) that we’re no longer interested in stories about how awful the other side is. Let’s ignore these stories or, better yet, let’s respond to them with the phrase “What constructive solution do you have to this problem?” Let’s tell our leaders that we don’t care what the other side is doing wrong, we want to know what they’re going to do right. If a friend posts a story about how bad the GOP is when it comes to civil rights for women, let’s respond not with arguments but with questions like “Can you tell me what you think is the right solution and how would you implement this solution?” If our mom posts a story about how awful that Obama healthcare is, let’s respond with “How would you deal with poor people who have no insurance? What effect would your proposed solution have on public health?” Force these people to engage in a constructive conversation or simply ignore them and don’t provide them with the validation and attention they crave. Best if all, let’s stop being part of the problem and start being part of the solution. Let’s stop sharing those negative stories and start sharing positive ones. Let’s start talking to one another and try to understand different view points rather than try to tear each other down. We all want to solve these problems, let’s admit that to eachother and start working together.
I know I’ve had my share of political rants but there comes a time when one needs to stop complaining and start coming up with solutions, and that time is here. Our nation is running out of runway and we need to get our pilots to stop arguing with one another and start flying this damn plane.