November 1, All Saints (Solemnity)
This Tuesday is Election Day—finally! It will bring to a close long expensive campaigns and the political ads which have flooded and overwhelmed the airwaves over the past number of months. I would be willing to wager that if the ads were solely issue-based, and had real substance, we could accept them as an educational reference preparing us to go to the polls or cast our mail-in ballots. Regrettably, this was not the case. Most of the content this year, as in most years, were attack ads which seem to get dirtier and dirtier every cycle. The dirt comes from all sides. What is most perplexing for me is this Tuesday night or Wednesday morning as acceptance and concession speeches are made, candidates with thanks and perhaps praise their adversaries for a good campaign—after all the nasty things said about each other. I remember one very nasty campaign years ago, one that CBS’s Dan Rather would say “that was so dirty it would choke a maggot”, the winner referred to it as a “healthy contest.”—are you kidding!!! Funny, after the election they want to play nice-nice after reputations have been tainted. I know being a gracious winner and a good loser is important, but after all the name calling?
We are a society with numerous views of the world, and that is fine. It can be enriching to hear opposite commentaries and learn new perspectives. But can we avoid the aggression and keep them objective, keeping a historical context, and maintaining good relationships so ongoing discussions can continue. Objective in keeping to the facts and being cautious of personal feelings which can often interfere. Facts are different than feelings. Historical in that we understand or seek to understand a person’s past experiences which brought about their point of view and how they see the world. Maintaining good relationships and willing to “stay at the table” in those moments of strong disagreement and avoid getting stuck. It takes an intentional effort to maintain these and other constructive actions to keep us “out of the mud.”
A good example of this is chronicled in Chris Matthews 2013 book Tip And The Gipper: When Politics Worked. The book reveals the six-year positive working relationship with then Republican President Ronald Reagan and Democratic Speaker of the House Thomas “Tip” O’Neill. The book proves that two ideological opposites can work together for the good of all. Through compromise and mutual respect, they achieved major legislative wins and moved the country along. I also believe O’Neill was known to have very hard conversations and debates with members of the House but then could go to the bar or out to dinner with them.
As I mentioned not long ago, Scripture offers us biblical examples of this with Jesus dining and relating with the Pharisees, plus promoting the goodness of the people of Samaria. We have much to draw from. One final note to draw from: I have a poster on my office door with various sayings about How To Be An Artist by Sark. One of those is “Invite someone dangerous to tea.”