To Debate Is American

When I was in high school, I remember debating my Republican friends about the political issues of the day. Should abortions be legal? What domestic programs should be funded by the government? What rights should workers have? How much government regulation is appropriate for our free market? The topics we covered stretched for miles. Although some of us were barely old enough to vote, we were passionate about our positions. 

But here's the thing. We were also civil to each other. I may not have agreed with my friends on many issues. Quite the opposite. But at the end of the debate, we were still able to set aside those differences and go back to being teenagers. 

Look where we are today. The current President has systematically pitted us against each other in a way that makes debate impossible. I can no longer debate my position with my friends or family members. Instead, there is a very real danger that feelings will be hurt to the point we're we will leave the conversation worse than we started.

Part of the problem is that we have little to no chance of changing each other's minds. That's because the current President has declared a full and complete war against the idea of a fact. Instead of facts, we are left with a bunch of opinions that can't be evaluated for their correctness. 

This is an unacceptable trajectory for our nation, and it is one we have to fix. We need to be able to enter into a debate, with the possibility of changing each other's minds, with seeing the value of a dissenting opinion, and with a renewed agreement that facts exist. We need to acknowledge that there is a continuum between "mere opinion" (i.e., chocolate is the best flavor of ice cream) and solid, empirical facts (i.e., covid has taken more than 200,000 American lives). 

To get on path, we need to vote out the current President. We need to restore decency, civil debate, and respectful disagreement. We need to vote in Biden and Harris so we can start the healing process.