As we file into voting booths to decide our nation’s future, it can be tempting to see our political opponents as our enemies. But the health of our great nation relies on seeing them, instead, as our friends and neighbors with whom we happen to disagree on many issues.
It’s easy to listen to Fox News or MSNBC and conclude that our political opponents are almost a different species from us: that they don’t value what we value and don’t care for what we care for. It’s easy to conclude that they must not love their families or want to build a safer and more prosperous America for their children. But the data show this isn’t true.
In Say It Well, former Obama speechwriter Terry Szuplat cites a recent survey in which “roughly 90% of the people … Republicans and Democrats alike, said that personal responsibility, fair enforcement of the law, compassion, and respect across differences were important to them.” We all share the same underlying values, even if we disagree with our brothers and sisters across the aisle about how these values should manifest in public policy.
But what about those times when our political opponents really seem to act like our enemies? What about the leftists who try to bully and intimidate those of us who don’t support Vice President Kamala Harris? What about the Donald Trump supporters who call others “libtards” for refusing to back the former president? These insults and actions can hurt. But it’s useful in response to take a step back and see our political opponents as they really are.
Most people across the political spectrum are angry and scared. Over three-quarters of people say that members of the other side represent a “clear and present danger” to the United States. These numbers hold for Democrats and Republicans alike. This anger and fear are felt most keenly by the people who demonize and attack others without cause or provocation.
As a political commentator, I’ve dealt with vitriol and hate for years. But none of my attackers were people with whom I would willingly trade lives. They were terrified and lonely and in a lot of pain, and it was that pain that boiled over into rage and personal attacks.
Knowing that the people who demonize us are in pain might not take away the sting of their words and actions, but it can shift our own perspective. Perhaps it can help us to see them not as mighty enemy soldiers who must be fought but as people wounded and crying out for help. Perhaps this perspective can move us to see them with compassion. At the very least, it can shift how we respond to them and stop us from feeling the need to fight fire with fire or to see them as our enemies in turn.
But why does it matter whether we see our political opponents as enemies or as neighbors? For one thing, we have duties as citizens of our great nation. One such duty is to vote with thoughtfulness and integrity. Another is to preserve and protect the U.S. against threats both internal and external.
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Toxic polarization is one such threat. The worst excesses of the Left, including trying to pack the Supreme Court and create more Senate seats to give Democrats a permanent majority, are fueled by anger and fear toward the Right. Ditto the worst excesses of the Right, including Jan. 6 and Republicans who insist that the 2024 election won’t be fair unless Trump wins. These actions threaten our separation of powers and our noble tradition of self-governance and strike at the very root of our republic.
When the Founding Fathers bequeathed to us a new form of government, they knew it was fragile. Benjamin Franklin described the fledgling U.S. government as “a republic, if you can keep it.” We owe it to generations past and future to turn down our political rhetoric and rebuild bridges with our fellow Americans across the aisle so that we may keep our republic for generations to come.
Julian Adorney is the founder of Heal the West, a Substack movement dedicated to combating illiberalism via spiritual formation and rebuilding the American community. He is a member of the Braver Angels media team.