We need leaders who can bring us together
Once the ballots are counted and the winners declared in next week’s election, most people are going to want a break from politics and for good reason. But very soon, all of us who participate in this democracy need to get to work fixing it.
Unfortunately, a destructive form of politics has taken root across the country. Fundamental norms of our discourse — such as the idea that those entrusted with positions of leadership should tell the truth and bring people together with something resembling hope and optimism — have been discarded in favor of fear mongering and ruthless divisiveness.
The events of the last couple weeks have reminded us why this corrosive approach to politics — the approach championed by President Donald Trump, my fellow Republican — is so short-sighted and limiting. To be sure, nobody in public office bears responsibility for the mass murder at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, and no elected official forced a madman to send pipe bombs to political figures and media organizations.
But in the wake of these types of terrifying, horrific events, we need political leaders who can stop pointing fingers and start pulling our country back together. We need those who leave no ambiguity when they talk about the hateful extremists that are trying, with some success, to work their way back into the mainstream of American politics.
In short, we need people in public office who see division in our country as a challenge that needs to be resolved, rather than an opportunity to be exploited.
Even if they momentarily hit all the right notes of grief and empathy, it’s nearly impossible for elected leaders who thrive on division to bring us together in the wake of a tragedy. They simply lack the moral authority. In recent weeks, many in elected office have tried to motivate voters by grossly exaggerating the threat posed by a distant group of refugees fleeing their home countries. It’s the same win-at-all-costs mindset that convinced some in Washington that they could score points by separating young, scared children from their parents. This isn’t toughness or street-fighting, and it certainly isn’t leadership. It’s a desperate attempt to incite anger instead of going about the more difficult task of building lasting and diverse coalitions around good ideas.
But there is always reason to be optimistic in our country, and now is no exception. There are plenty of men and women, some of them on the ballot right now and some who will run for office in the future, who are more than capable of providing the leadership we need. They speak with credibility and honesty. They are willing to upset the most ardent partisans if that’s what’s required to do the right thing. They work to build consensus, they listen, and they focus their energy on the challenges that will determine our future, from education to public safety to national security.
But the work ahead should not only be left to those who hold public office. We can all put our democracy on a better path if we stop taking cues from our most divisive political figures. It’s our responsibility to reward candidates and officeholders who want to govern constructively. It’s also our duty to consider how we are treating each other. We should be unafraid to disagree over issues and defend our principles. But there is a more appropriate balance to strike between well-meaning policy disagreements and our larger sense of national unity and common purpose. As voters, we need to reassert that we want elections to be contests of ideas, rather than desperate attempts to stoke hostility around issues of identity.
Six days after terrorists attacked our country in September of 2001, President George W. Bush went to the Islamic Center of Washington, D.C., and declared, “These acts of violence against innocents violate the fundamental tenets of the Islamic faith. And it’s important for my fellow Americans to understand that.” He recognized his responsibility in that moment to diffuse misplaced hostilities and assert a sense of unity among all Americans. This is the type of leadership that we should demand from whoever prevails up and down the ballot on Tuesday, and it’s the type of decency that we all need to restore in our public discourse.