I was having coffee with a friendly acquaintance on the political left who started getting worked up about a Democratic lawmaker who strayed from strict progressive dogma.
I mildly observed that some on the left are becoming as absolutist as their adversaries on the far right.
He flew into what can only be described as a rage, accusing me of “false equivalence” and labeling me a “corporate media tool.”
I’m used to being yelled at about politics; it comes with the job. What surprised me was so virulent an attack in an amicable social setting.
I feared the Facebook age has brought us to a point where friendly personal relations are increasingly difficult without total agreement on politics, religion and the other belief systems that polarize us.
I found hope, however, in stories after the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia about his unusual friendship with fellow Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Conservative Scalia and liberal Ginsburg bookended the court’s ideological spectrum, disagreeing more often than any other pair of justices in battles over gay rights, women’s rights, voting rights, gun rights, affirmative action and political finances.
The beauty was that while partisans of each reviled the other, the two justices were best friends.
They went to the opera together, traveled together and were photographed sharing an elephant ride in India. Scalia and his wife were regular guests at Ginsburg’s home to enjoy her husband’s gourmet cooking and they celebrated New Year’s Eve together.
In marking Scalia’s passing, Ginsburg quoted a line from “Scalia/Ginsburg,” an opera written about their friendship: “We are different, we are one.”
It’s not only a nice story, but an inspiration as we struggle to find a way out of our current ugly national consciousness.
As passionately as they disagreed on the law, they shared an old-school trust in American democracy and its processes, something lost in today’s toxic politics.
They recognized established procedures for settling differences, usually by majority rule, and accepted they couldn’t always have their own way.
When they lost, Scalia and Ginsburg didn’t throw tantrums and subversively obstruct the outcome; they licked their wounds, went to the opera and regrouped to fight again another day.
Respect for the humanity of the other was never lost.
The biggest problem in today’s political wars is a growing sense of entitlement among the most partisan to always get their way, which is impossible in a diverse democracy.
For each person absolutely sure he or she is right, there’s somebody else with the opposite view and equal righteous certainty.
Still we must live together, and we thrived for 200 years because we committed to working through our differences to find a common path forward.
Let the example set by Scalia and Ginsburg guide us back to getting along.
Reach David Shapiro at volcanicash@gmail.com or blog.volcanicash.net.
