This week, Barack Obama delivered his final state of the union address. President Obama was the first presidential candidate I ever voted for. I will always remember seeing him come to Northern Indiana for a rally, driving voters to the polls for him, and watching election night coverage with my best college friends (primarily Republican lot, unfortunately). Seeing him at the podium for the last time made me emotional due to the nostalgia that comes from having President Obama in the Oval Office during some of the most formative years of my life.
My nostalgia was temporary, though, because of the power of his words regarding our current politics. Rather than thinking about our common past, my mind moved to the thinking about the future that we will all share in the future, regardless of who the next president is. After thinking about his words, I would like to offer my own reflections on one of President Obama’s questions for us: “How do we make our politics reflect what’s best in us, and not what’s worst?”
At the center of President Obama’s critique of our current political climate were two items: (1) the failure to recognize or appreciate facts; and (2) the failure to recognize or appreciate the “others,” who disagree with us.
Fact-Based Reality
President Obama’s criticism of whose in America who refuse to recognize clear facts essentially restated one of my favorite quotes from Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan that “you are entitled to your own opinion, but you are not entitled to your own facts.” Our society’s failure to take a common set of facts and analyze it dramatically harms our ability to engage in civil dialogue, reach workable solutions, and implement concrete policies to address problems.
We in this community know that the Republican base bears a heavy dose of responsibility for our overall society’s detachment from reality. Base Republicans assert that global climate change is fiction, that never-ending tax cuts for the wealth creates broad-based wealth, and that all Muslims, regardless of background, constitute a potential threat to American security. I need not spend much time addressing the failures of base conservatives, or their media enablers, to recognize that lack of evidentiary support for these positions.
We do need to address how we, the already politically engaged, can help this situation. We can avoid the temptation of using our political knowledge to turn ourselves into armchair political pundits who do cheap imitations of the Heilemann’s and Halperin’s of the world. It does us nothing to engage in amateur political prognostication, such as saying Hillary Clinton is the frontrunner or Bernie Sanders is the frontrunner. That plays into the media narrative that the American people only care about the political horserace. A better use of our interest and knowledge would be to read white papers from policy think tanks, read up on what is actually occurring in the halls of Congress, or picking up some books addressing policy issues in our country. Instead of watching Chris Matthews, watch Melissa Harris-Perry on the weekends (or DVR it, if you have better things to do on Saturday/Sunday morning). When family members or friends ask who you think is going to win a political race, respond, "I don't know, but I hope that X candidate wins because he/she has a really good economic plan."
That is how we create a political system that includes a vibrant marketplace of ideas. And, when we create a political dialogue that emphasizes actual discussion of ideas, not poll numbers, we create a climate in which Progressive ideas will flourish. After all, as Stephen Colbert quite adroitly noted, “Reality has a well-known liberal bias."
Respect for Opponents
On Tuesday, President Obama said, “Democracy does require basic bonds of trust between its citizens. It doesn’t work if we think that people who disagree with us are all motivated by malice, or that our political opponents are unpatriotic.” This statement reminded me of some of the most beautiful words that I read in law school from Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.: “If there is any principle of the Constitution that more imperatively calls for attachment than any other, it is the principle of free thought — not free thought for those who agree with us but freedom for the thought that we hate." It is not easy to be American for cannot just celebrate those who agree with us, but also must allow those who oppose us to speak just as loudly from the other corner of the public forum.
Within this forum of differing views, it is easy to get caught up and cast aspersions on our opponents. Recently, this isn’t just something that is left for those embroiled in a left versus right dispute. Rather, we on the left have taken to calling supporters of Bernie Sanders "sufferers of a Messiah complex" and calling Hillary Clinton supporters "corporatist defenders of oligarchy." Conservatives have been even worse, as they are reduced to calling each other "jerks" and "losers."
We need to up our game, especially here at Daily Kos. Bernie supporters need to realize that Clinton supporters are firmly committed to Progressive leadership in this country. Clinton supporters need to recognize that Bernie supporters want dramatic change and believe their candidate is the best for accomplishing that. None us are gaining any ground with personal attacks that undermine our eventual need to unify and defeat the alternative that the Republicans will advance.
I know that that is hard. But, that is what is expected of us in our democracy. Indeed, it is what is necessary in our democracy. Before we can advance together, we need to see others for the best that is in them, not for the caricatured worst. And if it becomes too much, just think of this statement from President Obama (which is now laminated in my wallet):
So, my fellow Americans, whatever you may believe, whether you prefer one party or no party, our collective future depends on your willingness to uphold your obligations as a citizen. To vote. To speak out. To stand up for others, especially the weak, especially the vulnerable, knowing that each of us is only here because somebody, somewhere, stood up for us. To stay active in our public life so it reflects the goodness and decency and optimism that I see in the American people every single day.
Let’s go out and put these words into action! Here and in the real life communities that we share.