Why don’t liberals seem to care about moral behavior and the moral communities that support it? Why don’t conservatives seem to care about rampant public corruption at the heart of our political system? If we care about doing the right thing, can’t we care about both? There is perhaps nowhere in our civic debate where the conversation has grown so calcified as the one about morality.
We’ve long since stopped any form of real communication, instead hurling accusations at each other across what seems to be an impossible – and ever-widening – divide. But if you take a fresh look at the best case each side makes, they each have a real argument, in fact we think each sees an “asteroid” coming our way – with the problem getting bigger over time and the longer we ignore it. And until we cross the partisan divide and realize that team effort can solve both problems – as we would behave if they were real asteroids, we must deflect to protect life on earth, we’re stuck in a do-loop of failure to communicate.
Guests on this episode of Village SquareCast are Lucy Morgan, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and Dr. Bill Shiell, President of Northern Seminary and former pastor at First Baptist Church.
Dr. Carmen Gonzalez is the director of UW’s CCDE and an associate professor in the department of communication. Photo by Corey Olson.
