I’m fascinated by ideas. I love to hear the interplay of various opinions on the same issue.
One of my favorite sayings is, “No one has all the good ideas.”
Applying that maxim to politics, no one person or party has all the answers, and no one person or party gets to make all the decisions—that would be a dictatorship, an autocracy, not a democracy.
When this country needs a solution to an important problem, it’s important to get input from all sides about how to handle it.
I’m old enough to remember when the two main political parties could discuss an issue politely and rationally, without coming to blows. The Republicans might propose Solution A, the Democrats Solution B. The parties would then sit down and negotiate.
The Rs might say, “I’ll give a little here, if you’ll give a little over there.” The Ds could then offer their suggested compromise, and the Rs could either accept that or propose an alternative.
After such a discussion, the negotiators would meet somewhere in the middle with Solution C, which was often better than either A or B would have been.
That’s the rosiest scenario, of course. Sometimes “discussions” did sound more like pitched battles, even many years ago. Political decisions about thorny issues are seldom arrived at easily, without raised voices or cold looks. People who feel strongly about their position typically defend it with emotion and passion.
But it is possible for things to work out without rancor, without the sides spitting hatred at each other. I know, because I’ve seen it happen. Not every time, of course. But it can happen.
Now, unfortunately, some aren’t satisfied to argue with words only. They reach for a gun or other weapon and physically attack those who oppose their ideas.
Almost every newscast, either national or local, includes a report about a mass shooting or a quarrel between individuals that ended with one or more parties dead.
Violent crimes (which include aggravated assault, robbery, rape and homicide) increased from 62,712 in 2019 to 1,313, 015 in 2020 (https://usafacts.org/ data/topics/security-safetycrime-and-justice/crime-andpolice/ violent crimes). That’s a huge increase.
And in the year 2020, the U.S. population increased by only one-third of one percent. Sounds like we are becoming a more violent people, doesn’t it?
Granted, 2020 was a pandemic year, and lots of things were different then. Violent crimes overall increased throughout those years. Mass shootings (in which six or more persons die), for example, went from 417 in 2019 to 690 in 2021, and since then have gradually decreased, 647 in 2022 and 632 in 2023 (www.bbc.com/ news/world-u-canada).
But violent crimes still happen far too often in this country. Especially worrisome is political violence, which has increased in recent years and which threatens our democratic way of life.
“Acceptance of political violence has been rising sharply over the past five years,” said Dr. Rachel Kleinfeld, Senior Fellow in the Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, in her testimony before the “January 6 Committee” of the U.S. House of Representatives.
“The danger that this violence itself, and the conspiracies driving it,” she added, “are causing to U.S. democracy are already substantial and are likely to produce significant democratic decline if not arrested soon.”
I can recall a time when parents taught their kids to “get along” with other kids, to “share” with friends whatever treat they were given. I’m not sure that happens so much any more. Maybe not enough, at least.
I don’t mean to romanticize the past. Lots of things weren’t wonderful in my younger days. But some elements of modern life—the internet, social media, television—tend to encourage us to follow our worst impulses. In this new year, let’s try to remember that we shouldn’t expect to win every argument, and that others have a right to their opinions too.
Years ago, when I or one of my siblings behaved in a selfish way toward others, my mother had a terse, no-nonsense comment that brought us to heel.
“Don’t be ugly,” she’d say with that frown that curdled our naughty grins.
Can we make this our goal this year? To accept that we won’t all agree on every issue, but that others have a right to think differently than we do? And can we treat other people the way we’d like to be treated?
Can we just not be ugly in 2024?