Bridging the divide between political ideologies

Americans are right now the most divided they have been in decades over how we ought to run our country. Through all the noise generated by the media, activists, radicals, and politicians there is one thing being drowned out that we must rescue if we ever hope to maintain our country, and that is honest and effective discussion.

The foundation of any sort of democracy is debate. At its absolute simplest it is a group of people assembling to debate issues and make the best decision they can for everyone affected. No matter how complicated the system gets, that has to remain its foundation at every level. Mainstream federal politics has strayed from this ideal, and all we see from our leaders now is endless fighting for fighting’s sake. In order for us as a society, and as a global superpower, to survive we have to change the way we engage with others.

Although obviously a deeply complicated issue, I would put forth a simple method with which we can begin to bridge the gap of division in our society. When we argue with others, when we engage in debate, our goal cannot be to win. When we argue to win, we dehumanize the other person; they become an obstacle to be overcome by any means necessary. Instead, we must approach others as peers and equals and argue to learn.

Arguing to learn is the most surefire way I have found to engage in worthwhile conversation. The goal is not to win, it’s often not even to reach a conclusion, it is simply to understand the other person’s ideas and opinions better. Each participant says and explains their perspective instead of attacking those of others. With a greater understanding of opposing perspectives, solutions that can satisfy multiple sides of an argument are much easier to find, and even if they still aren’t forthcoming each participant leaves with a more well-rounded understanding of an issue.

A good way to start a discussion where each participant is arguing to learn is to find a point at which every person agrees: often simply what isn’t working.

With that newly established framework the discussion consists of each participant bringing forth their idea on how the issue ought to be fixed and why they think that. The debate is then focused on what the good of those ideas are, of how to improve them and make them work, not just how they fail. Each person leaves with a better understanding of opposing perspectives on an issue, thus giving them a greater capacity to compromise and reach agreements in the future.

Arguing to learn reframes our discussions from attacks on other people’s ideas to collaborative debates focused on understanding and empathy for our fellow person. This Better Bickering, as I have been calling it in my head, is the only path I can see out of our current political sinkhole. In the pursuit of this goal of increased understanding I will be writing a weekly entry into this Better Bickering series where I will take a popular controversial issue and analyze it from multiple angles, often with the help of others, to see what we can learn from each other and how we can improve the way we work to find solutions. I thank you all for reading and I hope you will all strive to argue to learn rather than to win.