I watched President Trump's rally yesterday. When he invited a supporter from the crowd to come up on the stage and speak, it made me think about what I would like someone to say to the TV cameras. I wished that President Trump would do more to help unite the country. I am not very fond of the news media but I have mixed feelings about the way he attacks them. I think someone should call them out, but the way he does it keeps the anger and hate circulating. Anyway, this is what I wish someone would say to the TV cameras at a rally. It fits in with President Trump's theme of making America great again:
...
The people here tonight are a great group of people. You are really great.
I love this country and the people in this country.
We are a great people. We are a great country.
We have great musicians, entertainers, athletes, scientists, workers, and entrepreneurs. We have a great economy, a great political system, and great defense forces. We have great people.
Many people from all over the world want move here and become citizens.
They believe we are a great country.
We can believe that ourselves - that our country is a great country.
But we can become even better. We can try to reduce the political polarization in this country.
We can understand that people with different views can still be good people.
Here are a couple of examples to show what I mean:
Globalists want to increase immigration to help refugees. Nationalists want to control immigration to keep wages from falling so they can provide for their children. Both sentiments are understandable. As a great people, we can find a compromise through honest discussion and democratic processes.
Another example. Environmentalists want regulations that protect the environment. But workers could benefit from less regulation because that would increase economic growth which would improve working conditions and salaries that would help them provide for their children. Both sentiments are understandable. As a great people, we can find a compromise through honest discussion and democratic processes.
I could go through every issue that divided us in the last election and show that both sides have legitimate concerns*.
We have to come together as a people. We have to solve this problem of political polarization because it is getting worse and worse and it is tearing apart our culture. The news media and the politicians react to public opinion. Politicians want your vote, the news media wants you to watch their programs and read their papers. They are not going to help us change. We have to change ourselves and then they will respond to that change.
There is a sociologist, Jonathan Haidt (H a i d t) who studies political polarization. I hope the news media will look at his work and discuss it on their programs. And I hope everyone else will look up his videos on youtube. Jonathan Haidt (H a i d t), he is a sociologist who studies political polarization.
Thank you.
More info on Jonathan Haidt here:
http://ncu9nc.blogspot.com/2016/01/jonathan-haidts-constructive-approach.html
Notes
* Below is a list of political issues and differing opinions about them. My aim is not to convince anyone to change their opinion but to show that reasonable people may have different opinions for legitimate reasons.
Abortion
- A woman has a right to control her body.
- The rights of a person start at the moment of conception and it is wrong to destroy a helpless individual.
Immigration
- People should be allowed to come to the US to have the same economic opportunities as citizens or to find sanctuary from war or persecution in their home country.
- Immigration should be regulated because too many immigrants may lower wages or compete for jobs. Terrorists, drugs, and criminals might enter the country when borders are not protected. Too many illegal immigrants may strain the resources of cities causing property taxes to rise which also increases the cost of rental housing.
Environmentalism
- Regulations are needed to protect the environment.
- Unnecessary regulations hinder economic growth. Reducing regulations will cause economic growth which will force employers to compete for workers resulting in improved working conditions and raiseng salaries that will help workers provide for their children.
Government funding of arts and media.
- Art and media enrich our culture and government funding is needed to support works that would not be produced by private enterprise.
- Different people have different opinions about art and media and it is not the government's proper role to force people to pay taxes for works that they do not want to pay for or that express opinions they disagree with.
Judicial Appointments
- The US constitution was written a long time ago when our culture was different than it is today and we need judges who will interpret the constitution in a way that is appropriate for our current conditions
- Different people have different opinions on many issues and judges should interpret the law as it was written not according to their personal opinions or preferences. Some judges might hold progressive views, others might hold conservative views and the only way to ensure fair rulings is for judges to rule on the law as it was written not according to their personal views. Appointing a judge who will interpret the law as it is written is the best way to compromise between those who want a progressive interpretation of the law and those who want a conservative interpretation of the law. If the laws that were written in past times are not appropriate for us today, then there are mechanisms to update and amend them. It is not appropriate for judges to do this unilaterally.
The Electoral College
- It is undemocratic and unfair when the candidate for president who gets the most votes does not win the election.
- When the states agreed to form a nation, the less populous states were concerned that their interests would be ignored by the more populous states so they all agreed to put protections for smaller states in the constitution. These protections include the electoral college and the US senate. Every state that joined the US since that time agreed to abide by the constitution and eliminating the electoral college after this agreement would be unfair to less populous states.
The Minimum Wage
- Working people deserve a wage that will provide for the necessities of life.
- When the minimum wage is too high, it makes it impossible for young people to find entry level jobs because they lack skills that can provide an adequate value to their employer. If young people cannot get entry level jobs, then they will never develop skills and experience needed to get higher paying jobs. Raising the minimum wage also increases the incentive for employers to use automation to replace workers making jobs for unskilled workers even scarcer.
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