The rise of Donald Trump has brought about a decline
in civil discourse and a rise in hatred such as I have not seen in my lifetime.
Depending on where you stand on the
political spectrum, Trumpism has come to pass as a result of liberals’ demands
for political correctness or as the consequence of conservatives’ insistence on
ideological purity, with a host of other fault-finding reasons in between.
We seem obsessed with who is to blame
for our current circumstances, and that seems very unproductive to me. What
should consume us is the question of what we do next. The forces that brought Trump to the fore are
not going to disappear after November 8th. What, then, are we to do?
The way forward is a politics of
compassion.
What does a politics of compassion
look like? It starts with our
language. Even as children we’re told
that words matter, because they do. This
means that words like deplorables, idiots, and other degrading terms must be
excised from our vocabulary when speaking about our fellow citizens. And that’s not political correctness; it is
an affirmation of the humanity of all Americans and a recognition that their
emotions often have much less to do with racism, elitism, or ignorance than
with their lived circumstances.
Inclusion is another key component of
a politics of compassion. It starts by
having the humility to understand that we often don’t know what the best
solution for a given problem is. With
that knowledge, we then make sure to include those who disagree with us in the
political process. This will be
especially important should the Democrats win the Presidency and the Senate,
even more so if they also take the House.
Regardless, there will be a temptation to move legislation forward
without due regard for the legitimate concerns of people in the minority. We
must resist this.
The biggest danger to our nation at
this time is not whether the Affordable Care Act survives in its current form,
or whether we successfully close the carried interest loophole; it is the
widening fracture between Americans into sub-groups that, if allowed to continue,
may well do irreparable damage to our country.
“Learning to stand in somebody else's shoes, to see through their eyes, that's how peace begins. And it's up to [us] to make that happen. Empathy is a quality of character that can change the world.”
Politics is all about managing
change. Where we go astray is using our
politics to force change rather than guide it.
Force can, at best, compel temporary obedience. Lasting change comes from leading by
example. One of our greatest presidents,
Abraham Lincoln, excelled at putting himself in the place
of others. In fact, during what came to
be known as the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, he even affirmed the basic, common
humanity of slave owners, saying:
"... they [slave owners] are just what we would be in their situation. If slavery did not now exist amongst them, they would not introduce it. If it did now exist amongst us, we should not instantly give it up.... I surely will not blame them for not doing what I should not know how to do myself."
Now, this didn’t mean that Lincoln failed to stand for
his principles, and a politics of compassion would call us to emulate his
steadfastness for those things he believed were right. The challenge is to not be
so arrogant as to think that we can never be wrong.
Prudent speech.
Inclusive policy-making. Empathy with our fellow citizens. These form the core of a politics of
compassion, and they are sorely needed from those who would lead our nation.
No comments:
Post a Comment