People know me for not being afraid to speak politically. There's a lot of voices for Republicans and Democrats speaking loudly, and our modern communication technologies have given everyone a megaphone and made it easier for people to be heard. Unfortunately, they've done something else in the meantime: they've made it appear that we're more divided than we are. Because the only ones speaking are the radicals on either side, the centrists aren't heard. The reality is, we've all got these little micro-networks made up of largely people similar to us, and when we log into Facebook we see a lot of people speaking. It's easy to see a half dozen people saying one thing on Facebook and draw the inference, "Wow everyone is talking about this!" That's the reason why I don't mind speaking politically, because I view myself as a centrist and I don't mind having a voice from the middle in the mix.
There's a great 20-minute video from TED on the reality of American politics. The truth is that we're not nearly as divided as it seems. In fact, 40% of Americans describe themselves as independents. Us independents are somewhere between the two parties - we pick and choose different stances on different issues, rather than aligning on one party. And we have an impact - the video shows how polls on a variety of issues rarely show the radical divisions that the news media would make us think exist. There's a lot of radical rhetoric out there, which is disappointing because issues are rarely as clear-cut as that. We need clear thinkers who consider both sides of issues, and there are a lot of us out there. There's also a lot of misinformation (how many times have you heard lately that Congress gets full-pay-for-life after one term in office?) making the waves, and it's important to have level-headed truth seekers who evaluate claims before spreading them like gossip.
Independents and centrists are critical to the working of a political system, and when 533 out of 535 members of Congress are members of a political party, it's easy to forget that we outnumber either one. I get upset at radical rhetoric that ignores the centrists because they polarize issues, and I have personally seen the results of polarization in Kenya in 2008. After a bitterly contested election, both sides rose up in arms and literally began to slaughter each other. Some estimates show as many as 1500 killed. I have photographs of the results of excessive polarization. Having nearly half the population calling themselves independents can help prevent this sort of thing. I fully appreciate both Republicans and Democrats and I'm glad we have them, but I generally believe that neither has a hold on "truth" or "right" and that neither is a route to greatness for our nation. Politics will never get us there.
So in the end, yes I will continue to speak politically. It's the duty of the citizens of a democracy to be involved in politics. It's moreover the duty of Christians to be involved as prayer and Scripture study leads them. You can rest assured, however, that my speech will rarely be anything radical (unless the Bible is clear on the issue and it's radical). It will usually be either clarifying an ignored side of an issue or defending truth in the face of misinformation. It will generally be a centrist and independent point of view. And you are welcome to tune me out if you'd prefer. But unity is better than disunity, and diversity does not preclude unity. Americans are more alike than it seems.
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