Why Can't We All Just Get Along

I wish everyone would throw partisanship out the window — I'm sick of it. Both of the major U.S. political parties have good things to offer. While I lean left, there are many Republicans that I am fond of, like my county commission chair Sam Olens, Rep. Ron Paul, and Gov. Mike Huckabee. There are things I like about Sarah Palin, and I like John McCain as well. Even though I don't agree with these folks on many issues, I respect and listen to them.

Greatest Lesson I Ever Learned
When I was in junior high school I took a political science elective. It was fascinating. We had regular political debates and had a practice election. I learned to enjoyed listening to my opponents and I gained a lot from it. What I learned was to KEEP AN OPEN MIND.

Another Amazing Experience
In my mid 20s I had the honor of serving on the Mayor's Task Force for Teenage Pregnancy in Atlanta. During this time church folks had drilled into me that "Planned Parenthood was bad." As I started working with the Planned Parenthood staff I realized that this was one of the many lies put into my head. The organization, in fact, is wonderful, and I have volunteered for them and worked with them, off and on, for 24 years. Also during this time I tried to get the religious and secular sides together to have an open discussion on teen pregnancy. It didn't work at all — neither side was willing to talk because of the strong emotions over abortion. Of course, I've always felt that the win-win solution to abortion was pregnancy prevention, but the religious folks I spoke with didn't want to hear about it. I learned a lesson.

Hollywood & the Media
I once heard an actor say something to the effect that, "We actors tend to be more liberal because we are exposed to so many different people and ideas." I am a former journalist and I can say that the suspicions are true — we journalists ARE more liberal for the very reason above. We are trained to question and look at all viewpoints, and, well, that makes many of us liberal. But people are liberals for other reasons as well, and liberals are NOT BAD as some would have you believe. Liberals just have a different worldview (and usually broader).

What To Do
Believe me, there are plenty of far left liberals that annoy me as much as hard core righties. The key is to accept and listen to others with a different viewpoint. More importantly, don't ever buy into dogma or a party platform without questioning it. I recommend looking at every issue, one by one, and making your own opinion. Don't just accept the rantings of a TV or radio personality. Nothing is sacred in this world and everything should be up for scrutiny.

Rationalism Required
If we can just RESPECT and LISTEN to people with differing viewpoints, then we've taken a major step forward to getting along. However, one of the biggest shocks of my life has been the irrationality of people. If people don't care about logic, and follow ancient dogmas or rely on unproven information to base their arguments, then any intelligent and productive discussion ends. Don't just accept what you are told. Question everything! It's always okay to question — question your government, your religion, and your corporations. Trust me, they all three feed you lies every day.

Fight Ignorance
Civil discourse is also difficult when one party is uneducated on an issue. I urge everyone to read the newspaper, read blogs, and get your information from a variety of sources. Don't rely on information from "slanted" sources alone. When debating an ignorant person, that person will typically fall back and rely on straw man and circular arguments or resort to ad hominem attacks — that's where the debater simply attacks the person instead of responding to the ideas.

And So ....
I have never liked labels. I don't care about someone's political affiliation, race, nationality, etc... We are all people on this planet and we are all strikingly similar. Our relationships and Democracy could all work much better if we buried the hate and bias and just learned to listen to the other side. Almost always it's possible to find common ground.

Partisanship may get the vocal elements of each party worked up, but it accomplishes little. Let's start working together and listening to one another, and let's start moving forward on critical issues like health care. Humanity has some serious issues to face now and in the near future, and if we don't start getting along and working as a team, then we will likely self destruct by our own hand.

Peace.