I like politics.  I enjoy good oratory and debate.  Disagreements between good and insightful people can be good and healthy.  Thanks to all the good, thoughtful and hard working people who choose to run for office–whether for president, congress, state house, town governments, or school board.

In college, my senior comps project was on revolutions and how often idealistic rhetoric has given way to brutal dictatorships. Revolutionary language chills me.   Simplistic sound bites in response to complex problems make me uneasy.  Hateful speech scares me.

Seeds of hatred and fear have taken root.  Judging from the presidential polls, we are deeply divided and quick not only to judge our candidates but also to lash out against those who support candidates with whom we disagree.

Heartsick, I reread Healing the Heart of Democracy by Parker Palmer, a critically important assessment  of our politics written by a deeply religious Quaker educator.  I recommend it highly.

So much in our present system works to separate us one from another–working class white men from older women, black from white, urban from rural, Christian from Muslim, followers of one angry candidate from those who support someone else.  When we are separated and afraid and angry, it is too easy for us to be pitted against one another.

Parker Palmer reminds us that democracy works because we are able to hold differences in a healthy tension. Democracy works when we are able to listen and learn from and with one another.

In the next three months, we will be in full campaign mode. I will seek ways to stay in conversation with those who are afraid of my candidate(s) even as I will quietly support efforts to elect the one(s) I think reflect my values, faith and convictions.