State of Politics, State of Self

Yes, I am disappointed by the politics of the last four years, but not for reasons some portend. I am disappointed because our efforts to change political culture have been so effectively quashed. Any effort toward civil dialogue is doomed to be exploited by one side, and roundly panned by the other. Compromise and collaboration and even respect are construed as weakness. The state of our political culture continues to deteriorate.

When I listened to the Republican National Convention last week, I heard one speaker hammer the mantra, “They [Democrats] just don’t get it!” And then, when I listened to the Democratic National Convention this week, I heard another speaker chant, “They [Republicans] just don’t get it!” I think there is a conclusion worth considering: none of us get it.

I believe that the great majority of people in this world assess things from where they stand and make an honest effort to make sense of what they see. Since our diversity of life experiences, cultures and emotions creates a variegated terrain of human experience, what we see and where we stand may differ. Therefore our converging efforts may well lead to diverging views on truth, morality, and values. As Einstein noted in quantum theory, the observer shapes what is observed. As post-modern philosophers state, whether there is a universal reality or not, all perspectives are transformed by their conditions of emergence.

So yes, sometimes I just don’t get it. I sometimes don’t understand how a particular person (or denomination or political party) can think or feel a certain way. How can they support cause x, y, or z? How can they believe this or that to be true? How can they not see what I see,  think as I think? And here we have come to the crux of the matter. How should I respond when I just don’t get it?

Throughout history, a common rejoinder is simply to proclaim our rightness and attack the other’s wrongness. The manifestations of this approach are many: demonizing, dehumanizing, debasing, discrediting, disdaining - and that is just one letter of the alphabet. There is also war, heckling, attack ads, polemics, dialogue with agendas, hate, talking heads, bullying, religious violence, character assassination, telling others what to do, and the dilapidated state of affairs of contemporary political culture. All of these responses seem selfish and narrow. None of these responses feel right, to me. I believe that we are capable of so much more.

So again, what should I do when I just don’t get it? I have been thinking about this for some time now and have come to a working conclusion: the response to difference must be transformation of the self, not transformation of the other. I agree with Ghandi. I need to be the change I want to see in the world.  Light must come from within if I wish to share it.

You may contend that self-development is all well and good, but nevertheless there are things worth standing up for, change that won’t happen without action, and so on. I do not disagree. I also agree that some conflict is fine, even healthy. However - and this is a significant point - I am not talking about outcomes here. Rather I am talking about process (from which outcomes flow). The human condition essentially guarantees that I won’t always get it. Do I start from who is right and who is wrong, or do I start from what type of person I want to be?

I want to be a person that responds to difference with positivity, empathy, and humility. I have work to do. But our world, our future, our children deserve more. I can do better. We can do better.