I arrived home late last night from Take Back America. One theme emanating from several leading thinkers is exactly that of Call to Liberty: We must come together as Americans first. We must heal the country.
Many progressives clearly understand this. Others are more divisive. Many true conservatives also understand this, while others are more divisive. But I thought it important that so many progressive leaders understood and articulated it.
For me, one of the most important moments of the conference was a short talk given by Connie Rice, an attorney from southern California. Ms. Rice is a woman to be reckoned with. She is the cousin of Condoleeza Rice, but clearly works from a different standpoint to achieve and create justice in the world. Ms. Rice fights for the rights of the disenfranchised and those to whom injustice is done. Democrats tend to run government in California, so as she says, “I sue Democrats.” But that was not the moment of which I speak.
In her work, Connie Rice works together with Democrats and Republicans, progressives and conservatives, and she has to be effective with them in order to achieve the justice she pursues. The galvanizing moment for me came when Ms. Rice stated her primary goal when first starting to work with conservatives. “I want them to understand one thing: You have nothing to fear from me.” This was galvanizing because in a flash, I understood so much of the right wing rhetoric and why it has been so corrosive to the America body politic. Right wing rhetoric has convinced its listeners to be afraid of progressives, “liberals,” and the left. But there is nothing to be afraid of.
Why galvanizing? Because it helped me understand that education and ideas are critical but insufficient to address the issue. The underlying split is energized by fear, and to bridge the divide, we will have to go beyond the bounds of my book, Call to Liberty, and into the realm of emotion, inspiration, and other “soft” areas where the real hard work needs to be done. Progressives are not warring on Christmas. They are not closing the churches. They are not attacking family values. They are not trying to turn America into a socialist nation. Are there extreme examples to cite? Sure there are. But that’s true on both sides. The 80% of Americans who are not extremists really have nothing to fear from one another. The question is: How do we help people feel that?
So, at least one outcome of the conference is an additional dimension to the Call to Liberty work. I am thinking about the nature of what we are doing, and invite comments and feedback.
You speak of right wing rhetoric convincing its listeners to be afraid of progressives. Progressive rhetoric doesn't calm the fears. In my experience as a progressive liberal, I have left-leaning progressive friends whose rhetoric is excessive and I can see why it inspires fear. They identify with economically marginalized people and it sometimes sounds as if they favor socialism, communism, or anarchy. In their passion for change they do not realize they may be undermining the liberal framework on which they are standing. I think your strategy is on the right track to give this group some clarity. Your analysis may inspire them to appreciate our constitutional liberal democratic republic, to tone down the rhetoric against it, and to talk more reasonably with moderates and conservatives as well as with people on the religious right. A discussion of "Sicko" on the question of whether it made the case for universal health care more or less emotionally palatable to moderates and conservatives would be interesting.