With the 2022 midterm elections fast approaching, I have an October challenge to all Americans: Think outside your tribe, at least a little, this month.
“We the People” don’t agree on much these days, except for the fact that America’s culture and politics are dangerously divided. Each side sees the other as occupying a bizarro, inverted intellectual, moral, and political universe. Even scarier—each side sees the other as a threat to democracy.
How did we get this way? Books and doctorate theses have been written about the phenomenon of hyper-partisanship and polarization. Some of this scholarship is good, while some of it is designed to contribute to our mutual alienation. The short answer, at least as far as the media is concerned, is that a blend of 21st century technology and ancient human nature has created a segregated experience for consumers of news, each to a person’s individual liking, and to our collective detriment.
Although there’s no easy fix, let’s make the month of October the time of year when we all dine outside—and cheat on—our curated smorgasbord of cable, print, podcaster, and twitteratti diet.
In so doing, we can bolster the work of some of the enlightened souls who are trying to appeal to what Abraham Lincoln famously called “the better angels of our nature.”
Inspired by Lincoln’s vision, and despairing that we are facing a second great crucible, a New York group called “Braver Angels” encourages Americans of divergent political outlooks to share a meal together.
Our own Andrew Walworth, RealClearPolitics’ content officer and the moderator of our “RCP Takeaway” podcast, ends each Friday’s episode with an appeal to listeners to read at least one article published our site “from a writer with whom you disagree.”
Let’s make that a thing for everyone, starting this month. Each day, make it a discipline to read, listen to, or watch someone speaking from the other side of issues that most concern you. Read up on the concerns and priorities of the other side, which each tends to ignore.
Where can you find such a conversation and pairing of rival media and authorities? RealClearPolitics.
Every day, RCP covers the biggest issues of the day—bringing you the best of the right, left, and center. News, opinion, polling, and on-air video clips—including those featuring commentators you love to hate and never watch. In the short run, I admit, some of it might make you even angrier. But I suggest that if you make it a habit to listen with an open mind you might learn that you share more with your fellow Americans on the other side of the aisle than you knew. You also might learn that your side is not infallible. Or, as Ben Franklin put it, “Love your enemies, for they tell your Faults.”
To make it easy on you, we'd like to offer you some "think outside your tribe" pairings, taken from our daily currated content this month.
Oct 3
The Grotesque Politicization of Hurricane Ian Brad Polumbo, Washington Examiner
Humane Immigration Policies vs. Cruel Political Stunts Tomás Jiménez, The Hill
Oct 4
GOP House Will Try To Melt Down Global Economy Jonathan Chait, NY Mag
Joe Biden and the Sovietization of America Roger Kimball, The Spectator
Oct 5
What We Don't Understand About Teachers & Professors Derek Thompson, Atlantic
Restoring Free Speech at Our Universities Charles Lipson, RealClearPolitics