Guest column
An opportunity for political reconciliation
C. John Grom
The 2016 presidential election suggested that the people of America are ripe for political reconciliation. By reconciliation I don’t mean that all differences can or will be resolved or that everyone will take part. However, with a spirit of common understanding, most citizens can work together for the common good.
A president who is not a hyper-partisan was elected by members of Republican, Democratic and Independent parties sets the stage for civil cooperation. While we will always have citizens at the left and right fringes who will never yield to the spirit of “Make America Great Again” or “Stronger Together,” there is a growing body of enlightened Americans who believe that we are stronger together and we can indeed return to a time of shared prosperity and joint problem solving.
We have come to recognize that threats to leave the country if the other side wins are juvenile in the extreme, and that our bi-coastal media does not speak for the majority. Many on the fringes will remain on the fringes while the majority will begin the process of reconciliation. A good place to begin is to agree to a common vocabulary.
For instance, we should all agree to the same meaning of racist, misogynist, diversity, socialist, hypocrite, bigot and other frequent insults which are meant to be misleading and have no common definition. In addition, words that are used and should be eliminated from any civil political discussion are: moron, idiot, elitists, extremist, lunatic, radical and more.
With that settled, we are prepared to discuss ideas without playground language getting in the way. We can start with the concepts of freedom and equality; what do they mean and can they easily co-exist? Is racism on the rise? Does gender discrimination account for the wage gap? Respectfully discuss climate change at a purely scientific level among people who have different views.
I believe that these topics and more can be respectfully discussed between people of goodwill, and common understanding can be achieved if political team loyalty is placed on the back burner and intellectual honesty is honored.
If such discussions are to be productive, each participant will listen intently, consider objectively, ask for clarity and respond respectfully.
A president who is not a hyper-partisan was elected by members of Republican, Democratic and Independent parties sets the stage for civil cooperation. While we will always have citizens at the left and right fringes who will never yield to the spirit of “Make America Great Again” or “Stronger Together,” there is a growing body of enlightened Americans who believe that we are stronger together and we can indeed return to a time of shared prosperity and joint problem solving.
We have come to recognize that threats to leave the country if the other side wins are juvenile in the extreme, and that our bi-coastal media does not speak for the majority. Many on the fringes will remain on the fringes while the majority will begin the process of reconciliation. A good place to begin is to agree to a common vocabulary.
For instance, we should all agree to the same meaning of racist, misogynist, diversity, socialist, hypocrite, bigot and other frequent insults which are meant to be misleading and have no common definition. In addition, words that are used and should be eliminated from any civil political discussion are: moron, idiot, elitists, extremist, lunatic, radical and more.
With that settled, we are prepared to discuss ideas without playground language getting in the way. We can start with the concepts of freedom and equality; what do they mean and can they easily co-exist? Is racism on the rise? Does gender discrimination account for the wage gap? Respectfully discuss climate change at a purely scientific level among people who have different views.
I believe that these topics and more can be respectfully discussed between people of goodwill, and common understanding can be achieved if political team loyalty is placed on the back burner and intellectual honesty is honored.
If such discussions are to be productive, each participant will listen intently, consider objectively, ask for clarity and respond respectfully.
