Partisan. It’s the worst word in the world.

Take partisan out of it, and everyone relaxes. Everyone would admit they care. Everyone would admit that it’s complicated—immigration, legal and illegal, asylum, children, parents.

Put partisan back in, and it’s two sides yelling at each other—having taken their eye of the ball, which is solutions. Fixing things. Helping.

Caring. So let’s take a step back, and remember that if we hate abortion, it’s because we care about children’s lives. And if we are pro-choice, it’s because we care about women’s lives (not that we hate children, and in fact, sex ed. does a great deal to reduce abortions).

And that, whether we’re Republican or Democrat, we care about immigrants. We care about the rule of law, and we care about solutions, and we know it’s difficult—but at the same time, that illegal immigration is at all-time lows and has been for decades.

Partisan. It’s like pouring so much salt into a pasta dish that you ruin the whole thing.

Let’s let go of knee-jerk self-righteous hating on the other side. Let’s remember that, in fact, the other side is just the other side of the same boat—the boat that we’re all in, together, whether we like it or not.

Let’s remember to Make Love Great Again—to agree to disagree agreeably, instead of vilifying our fellow sisters and brothers.

Partisan. Not even once.

 

Elephant is big enough that many of our fans, or readers, or friends—many of you, perhaps you yourself—are conservative. I like that. I respect conservatives. I’m a moderate liberal—”moderate” being just as important as “liberal.” Moderate, to me, means that I value an open mind, working together, and listening as much as I value my…values of equal rights, environmentalism, a fair and prosperous economy, denuclearization, education and healthcare and opportunity for all, and diplomacy before war—may there be peace on earth.

All those are important to me. But how many times have we seen aggression in the service of what we value? Our values fast become self-righteousness.

And so it is that I love dialoguing, listening, arguing, and sharing with our readers who hail from outside our choir. That Elephant is big enough to reach well outside our choir means everything to me—what use is it to preach about local food to a farmer, or bicycle commuting to a cyclist?

We effect real change when we talk with those who have different paths. And we effect real change when we allow ourselves to be changed, and further awakened. ~ @waylonlewis
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