Judge Jim Gray (Ret.) Superior Court of Orange County, California 2012 Libertarian Candidate for Vice President
Recently I had breakfast with a truly good friend of mine when, among other things, the subject of politics in general came up. And we agreed that so many people today treat politics like religion, i.e. some issues are so emotional that they can’t even discuss the possibilities that there could be a better way. Can’t even discuss it – and if you continue to bring these issues up, you should be shunned. . . . What are some of these topics? Global Warming, Minimum Wage Laws, Voting “Restrictions,” Healthcare, the January 6 Invasion of the Capitol, Fracking, Taxing the Wealthy and more. This is simply not a healthy situation! Please! It is not a weakness at least to consider that alternative points of view could have merit. This approach certainly could apply to religious doctrines, but politics is not (or should not be seen as) a religion!
As I have written numbers of times in this series, I do not purport to “have all of the answers,” but I have thoughts about most of these issues and support discussions about all of them. And I hope that other people think and form thoughts about them as well – and that they join me in sharing those thoughts. To take that approach one step further, I was raised to believe that if people could not at least make an argument that favors a position they do not agree with, they have no business disagreeing with it. How can one disagree with a position if they can’t even articulate what it is? So, both for our as well as our nation’s health, let’s please tone down the rhetoric, the tribalism and the shunning and name-calling of people whose views we think we don’t agree with, and instead discuss the pros and cons of the approaches to all political issues. This is akin to President Kennedy’s inaugural address in January of 1961, when he said “Let us not negotiate out of fear, but let us not fear to negotiate.” Life is complicated and multifaceted. So let’s all open ourselves to discussions about all political issues and ideas, particularly ones that we (at least at the moment) disagree with! I sincerely hope that you agree this to be a much more healthy approach!
Quote for the week: “The ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world are the ones who do.” Steve Jobs
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