BEYOND IDEOLOGY: US “SILENT MAJORITY” SEEKS NEW POLITICS

By Mark Sommer and - - Reprint | | Print |

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ARCATA, CALIFORNIA, Mar 1 2005 (IPS) - Domestic divisiveness within the United States represents a far greater danger to the American democratic republic than any threat from foreign terrorists, writes Mark Sommer, host of the award-wining internationally syndicated radio programme, \”A World of Possibilities\” and co-creator, with William Ury, of BothAnd (www.bothand.org). In this article, Sommer argues that as currently framed, the war on terror is the ultimate either/or paradigm: \”You\’re either with us or against us.\” But this frame has divided Americans both from one another and the rest of the world in ways that could prove fatal to the country\’s future if it does not soon reframe the struggle in more inclusive ways. A different kind of Middle America – both principled and pragmatic, strengthened rather than weakened by its differences — could bring fresh energy to a paralysed body politic by creating a vibrant new process outside the dead zones that are the White House and Congress today. By combining the best of many perspectives into creative, effective syntheses, they may yet produce hybrid solutions with the vigour to withstand our all-too- human fractiousness.

Domestic divisiveness within the United States represents a far greater danger to the American democratic republic than any threat from foreign terrorists. As Lincoln famously said, “A house divided cannot stand.”

Yet calls to line up behind the current leadership in Washington ring hollow for millions of Americans from left and right who see in such appeals a transparent attempt to force obedience and suppress vital differences of perspective and approach. Any real meeting of minds, they insist, must be the outcome of an open, creative process of listening, hearing, and regaining respect for both differences and commonalities.

For many Americans, this “re-civilising” process must begin not in Washington but on the “third side”, a broader public whose task is now to walk away from the warring parties towards the scorched earth between and cultivate there a common garden. Numerous initiatives are sprouting in this ashen but fertile soil at local, regional, and national levels across the United States seeking to bridge the “red/blue” conservative/liberal divide drawn from the graphics of recent electoral maps.

Some analysts challenge the very notion that there is such a division, asserting that the dichotomy is the invention of politicians and pundits exaggerating differences in order to mobilise their bases.

Survey researcher Celinda Lake asserts that there is actually a “great middle” of the American public, some sixty percent, that is neither muddled nor indifferent. This new “silent majority”, she asserts, is more pragmatic than ideological and more interested in answers than arguments. Many believe that the answers don’t belong solely to one side and are most likely to come from a hybrid synthesis of the best elements in each of many perspectives. They consider the common good even as they pursue their personal interests. Indeed, some don’t even see the two as contradictory.

Rediscovering shared values and aspirations will not result from mere good intentions. Many an appeal to “come together” has fallen victim to a verbal cold war that richly rewards rage over reason. Extracting the venom will require a more tough- minded approach that posits the acceptance of differences as a precondition for candour and convergence across the divides. It also means challenging the odd assumption that getting along should just come naturally. Building relationships is a rigorous discipline that requires learning very specific skills. It takes far more tools and knowledge to build a bridge than to blow one up.

Over the past three decades, conflict resolution specialists have developed a range of mediating techniques in the “greenhouse” environments of social, civil, and international conflicts, labour and management disputes, communities, and schools. The most effective of these tools are now being applied in the open air of unrehearsed mass media and live meetings to give ordinary citizens the opportunity to utilise these skills.

With names like Search for Common Ground, Public Conversations Project, Let’s Talk America, and BothAnd, these initiatives all seek to shift the public discourse from an either/or paradigm that assumes only one side can be right to a both/and perspective that assumes answers come from many sources. All seek to combine the best elements in multiple approaches to produce a creative synthesis.

Rather than settle for a lowest common denominator process that produces an unsatisfying compromise, these initiatives seek the highest common denominator that meets the essential needs though not every desire of all involved. BothAnd (www.bothand.org), a joint initiative of the Harvard Global Negotiation Project and the Mainstream Media Project, uses the acrimonious medium of talk radio as a laboratory for “convergence conversations” between principled progressives and traditional conservatives who share a concern about the destructive divisions in American politics and a common devotion to constitutional rights.

As currently framed, the war on terror is the ultimate either/or paradigm: “You’re either with us or against us.” But this frame has divided Americans both from one another and the rest of the world in ways that could prove fatal to the country’s future if it does not soon reframe the struggle in more inclusive ways. A different kind of Middle America – both principled and pragmatic, strengthened rather than weakened by its differences — could bring fresh energy to a paralysed body politic by creating a vibrant new process outside the dead zones that are the White House and Congress today. By combining the best of many perspectives into creative, effective syntheses, they may yet produce hybrid solutions with the vigour to withstand our all-too- human fractiousness. (END/COPYRIGHT IPS)