It’s hard to root for an attitude. It’s a lot easier to root for an ideology or a team.
More and more, politics has become a “rooting for my team” phenomenon. The fact that we associate politics with ideologies that define us only accentuates this phenomenon. Every current event we encounter is filtered through this political lens. It colors how we judge people, how we choose friendships, how we experience culture, how we judge ourselves.
The Bush-Obama-Trump era, along with the social media revolution, has provided a perfect storm of ferocious partisan division. It’s not just about their various ideologies. It’s also the fact that they each played God, trying to transform the world in their image. Instead of making politics more humble, they made it more arrogant.
No modern president has ever had the guts to tell the American people this fundamental truth:
“My fellow Americans: The pursuit of your happiness and personal fulfillment is not determined by whether you vote Democrat or Republican. Your vote does make a difference, but so does your character and your willingness to improve the little world around you. In fact, the success of this country is very much dependent on how you act within your families and communities.
“By all means choose your parties, pick your causes and cast your votes. But don’t let those votes define how you view our country. America is bigger than that, and so are you. Our government depends on you as much as you depend on us. Will you embrace our liberty with a sense of responsibility? Will you see the humanity in those with whom you disagree? Will you honor your obligations as much as you fight for your rights? These questions are as crucial to our future as our debates about policy.”
Which politician could ever get away with such humility and honesty? Politics is the opposite of humility. To win our votes, politicians act as if they’re larger than life and their opponents are mere weasels. The more they fight for our vote, the more entertaining they become, and the more the media laps it up.
This dramatic brew of ideology, hero worship and fierce combat conspire to make politics the all-consuming cultural force it has become. Is it any wonder that friendships and families can break up over politics? We’re hypnotized by the team we’re rooting for, and nobody better get in the way.
I’m not downplaying the importance of policy. For people in dire need of assistance, and for many others, policy can be life or death. What I’m saying is that when we allow policy and politics to define us to the point that we can’t see the humanity or validity in any “other side,” we undermine the value of both politics and policy. It becomes more about power and winning. Go Lakers.
Some of my deepest friendships are with those on the opposite side of my political views. I’m not sure why. It could be because our political differences just accentuate the strength of our human, non-political connection.
But there’s also something else: I like to enjoy life. As much as I follow politics because of my profession, and as much as there are causes I feel incredibly passionate about, at the end of the day, what makes my life better and more meaningful? Is it to root for my team at the expense of everything else? Is it to block myself from alternative or inconvenient views? Is it to demand from politics what it can never give me?
Politicians can promise me the world, but I know they’ll never come to my house to set up my Shabbat table or help me raise my kids or play some great music. Not even God can do that.
That’s the attitude I root for.
Politics versus humanity : http://ift.tt/2riRfUm
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