By Fred Fuller
The United States of America is more divided than it has ever been since the Civil War. As we approach the 250th anniversary of the founding of our country in 1776, I want to write a series of articles discussing what we can agree upon, rather than what divides us. And I would appreciate your help. You can email me at fredfuller1776@gmail.com with your ideas and comments.
I plan to write about politics and religion, history and the environment, but hopefully in a way that doesn’t divide us. I have first-hand experience in politics, as a mayor of the City of Yale and as the St. Clair County Drain Commissioner. I have run for office as a Republican, an Independent, and a Democrat. Not because I am unloyal, but because it is the issues that matter to me, not the Party, and the Parties are continually changing.
I know the Blue Water Area. I am of the Blue Water Area. I grew up here and have lived here off and on for 70-plus years. My father’s ancestors settled here over 180 years ago. It pains me to see how this area has changed. Of course, some of the change is good, and some of it is not. And not everything about the past was great, either.
I have also traveled a lot and learned a lot over the years. Mark Twain said: “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness….” What he meant was that a person learns a lot by meeting different people in different places and seeing how they live. I hope I can share some of what I’ve learned in my travels. I am also a longtime student of history and a genealogist, and I’ll share some of what I know about that.
But what can we all agree on? Can we all agree about anything? How about honesty? Can we agree that honesty is good? Maybe not honesty about every single thing. There are white lies meant to spare people’s feelings, but then there are dark lies. I think we can agree that dark lies that erode the truth are wrong. I think honesty is a basic human need. Do you agree?
Some people say, “All politicians lie.” But I think that’s just a cynical way of closing one’s mind and ignoring more complicated truths. As a former politician, I can agree that sometimes politicians are not completely truthful. There’s a reason for that, and voters are partly to blame for it. If a candidate says one single thing that a voter is strongly against, that voter may not vote for them despite all other factors. Since candidates usually need every vote they can get to win, even honest candidates will sometimes not state a completely truthful position on an issue, because that might cost them votes with single-issue voters. So, they will hem and haw on some issues, not being completely honest about where they stand.
But there’s a big difference between that kind of evasiveness and outright lying and misrepresentation, which we seem to have more of these days.
Voters should encourage honesty by looking at the overall quality of a candidate and choosing the best available candidate, or perhaps the least bad candidate. That’s just what being an adult in America requires. With few exceptions, in my 56 years of voting, I’ve always felt I had to vote for what I felt was the least bad candidate for President.
Politics is not a pretty game, but I often think that it is what we do to settle disagreements instead of going to war. It is a necessary evil, one might say. But it doesn’t have to be evil. It may not always be fair or easy, but it should be decent and mostly honest. Do you agree?
A favorite song of mine says, “everybody wants the same things.” Yes, most people want the same basic things like food, happiness, love, security for their family, but not everyone wants everything the same. Some people want to just be happy and secure, while some people want adventure. Some people want to feel they’ve made the world a better place, while others want wealth and power for themselves.
I guess it’s because people want different things that we come into conflict, and also because we believe in different truths, different religions. It is said that all religions have in common the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Can we agree about that? I guess that’s what I mean by “being decent.” Let me know what you think, and we’ll continue this dialogue.
