It is plain as day to anyone paying attention that government tactics of “divide and conquer” are working on the American masses.  Historically, this has been a common strategy that has worked well to quell resistance to slavery, subvert labor uprisings, and dismiss popular dissention regarding public policy.  The government creates a class of people who are demonized and sometimes criminalized (witches, communists, potheads, terrorists, liberals, etc) in order to keep people from recognizing our commonalities, which more often than not outnumber our differences.  In a comment from a reader on the Reuters blog, we see this: “I honestly think it would do more good to just have another civil war.”  For real?  If it has truly come to this in a country founded on democratic ideals and political discourse, then we are more divided than I thought.

Personally, I think we are on the brink of a much-needed restructuring of the conservative wing of government, and we might be in store for some real change in policies that could benefit our society at large.  And no, I don’t mean socialism.  That kind of talk is part of the problem.  I mean reiterating the importance of responsibility for the greater good, which was a common refrain from the Kennedy family in the 60s.  What can you do for your country?  Or, as I prefer to read JFK’s famous quote, How can I help my fellow Americans and fellow human beings have a better life?  This is not a liberal idea; it’s a basic tenet of every major world religion, and on a more basic level, it’s common human decency.  We haven’t seen enough of that lately. 

In order to help bring us together, I’d like to provide some communication tips for dealing with people on the other side of the aisle.  (The operative word here is “people.”)

1.  Assume that the people who disagree with you are not part of a vast conspiracy to shatter the very fabric of America and undermine your moral values.  This can be particularly difficult for those of us who see conspiracy theories in our morning breakfast cereal.  However, I would like to suggest that vast majority of these people are not out to get you personally, but they are interested in promoting what they see as the greater good.  In other words, gay people are not trying to hijack “traditional marriage” and turn your kids gay, and evangelical Christians are not all a bunch of uneducated rubes with fascist tendancies who want to nail the constitution to a cross.  I’m guessing both positions are somewhat less extreme.

2. Look for ways to compromise that keep the spirit of your argument alive.  It is unlikely that pro-choice folks will ever sit down for tea with the militant anti-abortion movement.  However, if we can all begin by accepting step 1, it becomes much easier to get to step 2.  President-elect Obama had a great suggestion for these folks in particular when he said that both sides can agree that we need to reduce the number of unplanned pregancies.  This is a meaningful compromise.  Now you try!

3. Be willing to critically examine your own point of view.  This is difficult even for the best of us, but it is a worthwhile and productive exercise.  Critical examination means, among other things, recognizing whose interests will be served by implementing your idea and whose interests might be overlooked or left out all together.  However, the really hard part comes after you’ve examined your ideas, when you might have to admit that your idea wasn’t so great to begin with.  Can you do that?

4. Abandon the notion that “liberal” and “conservative” are mutually exclusive terms.  As noted in step 2, there are many areas where our ideas can and do overlap.  Many of the terms we use to define ourselves are social constructs, which means they are arbitrary distinctions that may or not actually exist, but we build up so much meaning around them and attach our identities to them in such a way that they actually begin to have power over us.  We are all Americans, we are all protected by the same great constitution, and we all want the best for our country and the people who live here.

5. Recognize that criticizing American policies is a healthy part of the democratic process.  When people scream “Terrorist” at demonstrators protesting the war, or when certain news outlets and bloggers suggest that these same demonstrators ought to move to Canada, we clearly have a problem.  Our founding fathers knew all too well that governments can lose sight of their purpose and become corrupt if the people don’t speak up.  The government is made up of people, and people make mistakes.  It is not “anti-American” to point out these mistakes.

More than anything else, we need to remember that we are all in this together.  There are corrupt politicians out there, and these people would like nothing better than to see the American people fighting amongst themselves, instead of holding the greedy, power-crazed bastards accountable.  Rational debate and real political discourse, including compromise, are the responsibilty of a free, democratic populace. 

If there ever was a “culture war” in this country, it was the result of a divide and conquer politcal discourse meant to make us feel distant from one another.  To me, it’s obvious from Obama’s victory that the majority of Americans don’t want this.  We want to come together, seek common ground, and communicate effectively to remake this country into one that works for all of its diverse groups of people, who in the end, share one common goal: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.