In about a year, over fifty major elections will take place across the world, including a national contest in the US. We have all been recently invited and instructed to participate politically and engage civically. So how should one think politically? Despite the headline, this piece—a first chapter in an ongoing series of best political practices and principles to which any interested reader may
It is indeed wise of us to search for at-one-ness in public life, to realize that making arguments with others is a perennial necessity, to listen attentively and to smile good naturedly, and to be good losers. Our communities depend on our willingness to engage with one another about what matters most, while expecting concurring and dissenting in parts to be the norm.
One can only be a good loser if one fights a good fight in the service of eternal principles, pouring one's all into gaining the victory, with a resolve to learn from the defeat and return to fight for eternal principles again. The whole project of convincing others is called evangelization.
It is indeed wise of us to search for at-one-ness in public life, to realize that making arguments with others is a perennial necessity, to listen attentively and to smile good naturedly, and to be good losers. Our communities depend on our willingness to engage with one another about what matters most, while expecting concurring and dissenting in parts to be the norm.
One can only be a good loser if one fights a good fight in the service of eternal principles, pouring one's all into gaining the victory, with a resolve to learn from the defeat and return to fight for eternal principles again. The whole project of convincing others is called evangelization.