Living in Gray

We must get beyond the "black and white" of perception and embrace the "gray" of reality. "Terms like 'conservative,' 'liberal,' and 'progressive' do not, and cannot, do justice to the complex reality of our politics and our experience as humans," writes George Lakoff in his new book The Political Mind.

"Barry Goldwater, 'Mr. Conservative,' had the general conservative worldview for foreign and military policy and economic policy, but had the general progressive worldview about Native American rights, about religion, about gays in the military ("You don't have to be straight to shoot straight"), and about governing itself, where he believed in honest, open, and cooperative government as opposed to government by obedience." pg.70

No matter who wins on Tues., as a nation we are going to HAVE to work together, if we expect to address any of the immense challenges we are now faced with. This will require effort on our part, suspension of judgment of others, the ability to maturely disagree without attacking each other with meaningless "labels", and the willingness to find our common ground as a firm foundation from which to build our society. Just as it is with genetics, where we are 99.5% similar, why do we center so much of our energy around that .5% difference?