Healing differences on common ground

Healing differences on common ground
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What are the broader messages today from the example of the 9/11 Commission?

The first is that common ground is possible even in difficult circumstances, and circumstances now are quite difficult. We live in an increasingly polarized world. Consider the often angry debates over Social Security, the war in Iraq, abortion, gun control and Supreme Court nominations. ... ...

The first answer lies in understanding we are not as different as you might think; there is a surprisingly large overlap well suited to constructive compromise. We tend to overestimate our differences because of systemic factors that promote polarization. Our system of primaries, for instance, minimizes the chances the general election will offer a choice between moderates. Gerrymandered districts create safe seats where the only real race is in the primary. This significantly favors ideologues over moderates. The effect is quantifiable; social scientists have noted a dramatic decline in "near-centrist" members of both houses of Congress over the past 50 years based on their voting records. Partisan news media and special interests have their own stakes in exaggerating our differences. Pressures of fund-raising and traveling to home districts in a near continuous campaign cycle keep politicians from engaging in social interactions that previously fostered respect and friendship across party lines.

Understanding that we have more in common than we are told we have, or than our elected officials may have, is a key precondition to moving toward solutions. Common ground begins at home. We have to recognize that "Why can't everyone think like I do?" is not a sound philosophy for elevating the quality of public discourse. A key step forward is realizing polarization is not just the other guy's fault. Find someone who disagrees with you on a key issue and find out why. You may uncover a common interest you can collaborate to solve. Progress comes in many steps on many fronts.

The 9/11 Commission and more recently the "Gang of 14" senators have demonstrated how uniting around a higher goal can lift people above partisan differences. Together, America can do better.
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Hillary Clinton in New Abortion Warning

www.newsmax.com
2008 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is warning that if President Bush's Supreme Court appointees succeed in overturning the federal right to an abortion, state governments would likely implement a reverse of China's one child policy that would instead force women to have five children.

"There would be many places in the country that would criminalize [abortion]," Clinton says in a new videotaped message posted to her Senate campaign web site. "They might even send women and doctors to prison."
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