Everyone hates the polarized culture, but no one wants to give an inch. We blame the other side as the source of all of our problems. Perhaps we should try seeing their point of view as being valid. The friction that keeps us from accomplishing anything meaningful together isn’t the mindless droll, it’s our obsession with our golden calves.

Political arguments always begin with everyone planting their flags. Oftentimes, it seems like the argument gets as far as opening arguments and then completely stalls. We think it makes us people of integrity, that we have our view points and will not move off them, but really, it makes us foolish.

There’s a real difference between being blinded by ideology and having a sincere belief. In fact, I think that we must have issues that we refuse to change positions on, but only on the biggest and most important of issues. Tax policy holds a different moral weight than life issues.

When you strip away the rhetoric and the one-liners, we can actually find a great deal of common ground. We can take opportunities to work together, to give a little, and to agree to a compromise that takes us both closer to where we want to be.

When everything is a golden calf, nothing gets done.

Tags: Political Life