Extreme Makeover
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Extreme Makeover
This week, I am going to do something unwise. I am going to talk politics.
Not that I never do. I have written about quasi-political issues and approaches and probably revealed my more deeply held ideological views more than once. The tone and tenor of our political conversation is, of course, the very reason for writing these musings every week. I am deeply troubled by what seems to me to be a complete breakdown in our public discourse. So, let me try to approach the underlying reasons for why we are where we are. I will start with my personal journey.
Growing up in Sweden, I would say I have always been somewhat of an ideological stranger, in so far as I have never felt completely at home inside any of the two main competing narratives that have dominated the 58 years of my life: The Left and The Right. As a general pattern, I tend to agree with the left on the identification of problems and with the right on the definition of solutions. Meaning, the left tends to be more concerned about problems other than their own and the challenges we collectively face.
However, the left also tends to, in my humble opinion, lean too far into collective solutions that, at scale, produce too much inefficiency, insufficient individual responsibility, and ultimately stagnation, lack of innovation, and a zero-sum approach that is more committed to value allocation than value creation. I guess one could call me a classic John Stuart Mill Liberal since I am most committed to freedom and liberty, but I recognize the very important role our institutions play in making sure there are equal opportunities for all. And that the rules are set in a way that balances today and tomorrow, individual and collective freedoms, proper respect for the rule of law, etc., etc.
It is interesting to note that both the left and the right are in favor of some institutions. Typically, the right tends to be more excited about the institutions of religion, defense, law, and business. In contrast, the left tends to care more about social factors and a more equal distribution of outcomes.
My own particular career has, of course, also pushed me into becoming an even stronger believer in capitalism and the power of entrepreneurship. R.H. Cabell said this better than me when he said:
“I like business because it is competitive, because it rewards deeds rather than words. I like business because it compels earnestness and does not permit me to neglect today’s task while thinking about tomorrow. I like business because it undertakes to please, not reform; because it is honestly selfish, thereby avoiding hypocrisy and sentimentality. I like business because it promptly penalizes mistakes, shiftlessness and inefficiency, while rewarding well those who give it the best they have in them. Lastly, I like business because each day is a fresh adventure.”
Over the course of my lifetime, in America and Europe (sorry, I simply lack a lived experience elsewhere), I believe the constructive debate, the "back and forth" between the left and right, was productive most of the time. It produced a proper balance (over time) between creating more value for people and how best to allocate the fruits of all our labor. There are obviously several critical errors of both omission and commission in our recent history. Still, we did survive some flirtations with disasters and produced a fantastic record of human progress globally. Some problems we created remain unresolved and new challenges are, of course, also constantly demanding our attention.
However, during the past 5 years or so, I feel we have seen a radicalization and polarization of our public conversation that has left most of us in the dust. Living in America, it seems that our debate, and what is being served as fodder for political activation, is so far to the extremes that most Americans feel lost, disengaged, and confused by it all. I believe the same feelings can be identified in most of Europe (and probably elsewhere).
Consider the graph I made up top. I am not a genius graphic artist, so anyone who can do this better PLEASE contribute. But I think you get the point. Most things we study among large groups of people fall into a normal type of distribution often referred to as a “Bell Curve”. What I think we are witnessing now is a "push of the tails" out towards the more extreme ends of the ideological spectrum. The anger, division, and hatred that we witness daily seem to be fueled by political extremes that are good for soundbites and humiliations but aren't relevant to most people's daily lives.
I am rather convinced that the vast majority of people live in the middle. Most of us are moderates. Yes, we can disagree on certain issues, and some might lean right, and some might lean left, but our goals and objectives as humans have much more in common than what our political climate suggests. That's the point I am trying to get across here.
I will only quote one statistic in an effort to illuminate what could be called "effective extremism". In the most recent primaries in America, 8% of eligible voters cast ballots in primaries that effectively decided 84.8% of congress. The way we run primaries is a major contribution to polarization. The electorate is simply not participating, and it puts a premium on extremes. The only way to win in a very thin electorate is to be almost crazy extreme. And there we are. My favorite solution to this can be found at Final Five Voting and I wrote about that earlier here.
Social media is, of course, partly at play here. It's become commonplace to feed "your audience" content that rallies them up and further creates a distance between what we hear and what we experience. And now it’s easier than ever.
So, now the question is, what can we do about it?
Well, you are reading this, for which I am grateful. So Thank You. And I do believe one important 'solution' is to have better conversations. We need to drop the hate. It's so overplayed. The biblical reminder that an "eye for an eye will make the whole world blind" rings so true today. We have to all work on our open-mindedness muscles. Get more comfortable being a little bit uncomfortable. Learn how to listen to messages without shooting the messenger. We all can get better here.
My other favorite is quite simple. It has in fact contributed meaningfully to my own health.
Shut off the news (and maybe parts of your newsfeed, too). Just don't watch it. Do your best to be intentional with where you rest your eyeballs. Unsubscribe to partisan politics only designed to get you angry at the other side and rather subscribe to moderate journalists and writers committed to a broader agenda. Since all media streams live off of clicks, eyeballs, and subscriptions, we can actually put partisan, divisive, and dehumanizing content out of business! That's a wonderful idea.
I have shared most of my favorites in many earlier posts. You can subscribe to their feeds on Substack (or their own platforms) and thereby curate a more moderate channel of your own. People like Sam Harris, Andrew Sullivan, Bari Weiss, Jonathan Haidt, Tyler Cowen, Ezra Klein, David Brooks, Bret Stephens, Russ Roberts, and, of course, Bill Maher, who also does it with humor which makes it much more enjoyable. Please share your favorites if you have some that you find helpful and inspiring. Actually, his last New Rules piece from Friday is very much on the topic of extremism. You can watch it here. Please share your favorites if you have some that you find helpful and inspiring.
So, the bad news is that it seems we are extremely divided. The good news is that I don't think the public division accurately reflects the underlying disagreements in our republic. I really don't. Call me crazy. But most people I meet care about jobs, neighborhoods, safety, families, and health care, and want to believe in a better and brighter future. I am convinced there are many policies we can identify that capture the imagination of more than just half of us if we just somehow became more interested in solutions and real progress than we are in clicks, shaming, and winning just elections.
Let's do an extreme makeover. Make extremism just that. Extreme. And usher in more moderation, and more cooperation, and make productive and constructive discourse and collaboration the kind of skills we seek in our leaders. Lastly, a word on moderation which to some could perhaps indicate a sense of “not fighting” for what you believe in or perhaps even weakness. I am not arguing for giving up any of your convictions but rather the extreme hatred, lack of civility, and lack of complete respect for other people’s convictions. It is in respecting the other that we will find creative solutions that work for more people. That’s the art of leadership.
