Does politics make you mad? Probably. 60% of Americans, according to a 2019 poll, were getting angry at least once a day about news they’d heard or read. Or hopeless? 59% of respondents thought that things in this country were heading in the wrong direction. And I don’t think people are feeling any better about what they’re reading in 2020.
Politics doesn’t need to be a source of anger, anxiety, or fear. We have the power to choose our responses. When we choose to respond to the people around us with openness, understanding, empathy, and compassion, our upset feelings subside. More importantly, we evoke similar responses from others. When we humanize our fellow citizens, their openness to us increases. Openness allows for understanding; understanding, empathy; and empathy, compassion. Demonizing others does the opposite. It makes divisions more intractable, opposition more inimical. Compassion can lead to cooperation, and, in a democracy, that’s the only way we can all get what we actually want. The harder we struggle against our adversaries, the farther we get from realizing our political goals. We can choose our response, and right now, we’re choosing discord and disfunction.
How did we get here? Can we mutually respect, even cooperate with, people who really, really, seem to be irrational and irredeemable? Is it still possible for America’s future to be brighter than its past? I hope you’ll join me as I explore these questions more deeply.
Political Therapy
I think it would help us all to remember that the endeavor of collective government is supposed to (and can, when done right) make our lives better--not nastier, more brutish, and more fragile.
Definately a good idea, I need a change.