I’d like to propose an idea that may well prove to be unpopular. As I write this on Thursday evening, the election results remain undecided but the razor-thin margins between Trump and Biden give me hope, ironically, rather than despair. This may be counterintuitive, but I have come to believe the virtually identical distribution of votes is an extraordinary wake-up call. Indeed, an unexpected blessing. Why?
Pre-election, while safely occupying our valuative and philosophical bubbles as we are prone to do, wasn’t it easier to believe that the opposing side reflected a misguided numerical minority? Wasn’t it easier, pre-election, for each side to fantasize that its own belief system was unassailably more defensible than the others’? Well, folks, that misconception has been inconveniently shattered by this election.
And, for that precise reason I’m leaning into the position that we all must start over. To accept with sufficient humility that we cannot succeed as a nation if we don’t find the capacity to listen to one another, to better understand each other’s fears, reasoning and aspirations. That said, I do attach one simple but difficult caveat, as Daniel Moynihan said: “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.”
My hope and prayer is that by doing so, we might start along the path toward establishing a functional and principled democracy (beyond a society merely governed by a majority) wherein we strive for compromise and humane principles that aspire to equitable opportunity, dignity and respect for all. Color me naive, but I sincerely extend my own hand in peace.
SCOTT DICKMAN
Concord