Real Progress

"What Barack Obama failed to address in his remarks, however, is that some political disagreements are real — grounded in principle, or differences in judgment, or varying emphasis on different priorities, or the inescapable fact that human beings have different preferences. This is why it can never be the case, unless there is a war so terrible that our very existence is immediately threatened, that the country is going to join together in unanimity to address what ails us." - Conor Friedersdorf

To think that the only force that can unite Americans is a massive war or an impending attack may be one of the most cynical ideas ever put into words by people. This is the problem at hand. People who, mere hours into the Obama Presidency, begin to cut down not a policy, not a position, but the very idea of national unity as unreachable, naive, and misguided.

The problem is not divergent political ideologies. The problem is that people in every party believe that our differences are so great that compromise is not even feasible let alone attainable. They forget that most simple of American precepts: that which unites us is greater than that which divides us.

Our differences are real. We disagree on issues both important and immediate, which is why intelligent, patient, and reasoned debate is needed. National consensus is impossible, but compromise is always within our grasp.