Convention of States
- Acknowledge the good in others, and don’t mischaracterize their positions. Too often we seem to assume that if we acknowledge the noble intentions of our political opponents or the merit in their ideas, we’ll somehow betray our own position. This leads to an ugly, polarized and fruitless kind of public discourse.Is it really impossible for the left to identify a single positive action or idea from the Trump administration? And as for the right, let’s acknowledge that there are good, kind intentions behind the left’s push to provide health care and other goods and services for the poor – even if we completely disagree on who should provide these goods and services or how.In the same vein, let’s resist the urge to mischaracterize our political opponents’ positions – to create straw man arguments that are easy for us to knock down. Take, for instance, the Masterpiece Cakeshop case. Those who would force baker Jack Phillips to craft a cake for a wedding that violates his religious beliefs describe the case as being about Jack’s “denial of service” to the gay couple. But in fact, Jack was willing to serve them anything from his shop but a custom-made wedding cake.Let’s be honest about what’s really at issue.
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