In 1967, Ronald Reagan became governor of the State of California. In his inaugural address, he talked the peaceful transfer of power, something he described as “the simple magic the commonplace routine, which makes it a near miracle to many of the world’s inhabitants.” He then went on utter an iconic phrase that would be repeated by politicians for decades to come. “Freedom a fragile thing,” he said, “And it’s never more than generation away from extinction.”
Now like countless others, I have used that many times, but I have a confession to make. I never really believed it. Surely, after 250 years of this stuff, we no longer have worry about losing it. I’m not pleased to report that I actually believe it now.
The first cracks in my confidence came during one of those commonplace routines of power as Lieutenant Governor of the State of Utah. It was my duty to certify votes of the electors for the presidential election. While the meeting to do so was open to the public, it so commonplace and routine that no one ever showed up. As I into the room, I was stunned to see dozens of angry protesters screaming that election had been stolen and demanding that we violate state and change the votes of the electors.
Now I what you’re all thinking, and you’re probably wrong. This not 2020. This was 2016, and the protesters were Hillary Clinton supporters.
Now it got far somehow, four years later. With the election less than two months away, a friend and I were talking and about the state of our our country following a summer of destructive protests by the extreme left an extreme right that was already undermining the validity of an election that hadn’t happened yet. “Isn’t there something you can do,” she asked.
Well, that question me all weekend, so I picked up the phone and called opponent. By the way, I was running for governor the same time that Trump and Biden were battling for presidency. I called my opponent, a Democrat named Chris Peterson, I respected, and I said, “Hey, Chris, this is Spencer Cox. I have a crazy idea. What if we filmed a campaign ad together?”
I could hear the confused look forming on his face. To his credit, agreed, and one week later, we were in a studio together. Let’s watch.
(Video) I’m Chris Peterson. And I’m Spencer Cox.
CP: We are currently in the final days of campaigning against each other to be your governor.
SC: And while I think you should vote for me —
CP: Yeah, but really, you should vote me.
SC: There are some things we both agree on.
CP: We can debate issues without degrading each other’s character.
SC: We can disagree without hating each other.
CP: And win or lose, in Utah, we work together.
SC: So let’s the country that there’s a better way.
CP: My name is Chris Peterson.
SC: And I’m Spencer Cox.
(Together) And we this message.
(Applause)
Well, the response was instantaneous and overwhelming. The ad went viral. Neither of us saw it coming. There were media requests from all over the world, millions of views shares. Perhaps there really is an exhausted majority, I remember thinking to myself, and maybe this is message they want to hear.
I could actually feel my faith in the American idea start to rekindle. The of the ad validated my hope that most people really want their political leaders to uphold the values that we teach our kids. That can disagree without hate and contempt, even that we can find ways to treat each other respect even when we disagree. It seemed like there a hunger for architects instead of arsonists.
My hunch was confirmed one year later, when a professor submitted a version of our ad to the Stanford Polarization and Social Lab as part of a huge depolarization experiment. It was chosen as one of 25 to be tested on over 30,000 people. The result? Our ad actually had a measurable depolarization effect, including a reduction in urges towards violence. turns out there really are things that we can do to alter the of the United States.
Now look, I get it. It’s easy to feel a little hopeless as once again barrel towards an election with unsatisfying candidates and campaigns. But there is good news. Over the past months, 20 governors from all across the country have filmed similar ads, of them with a public servant from the opposing party. And the data continues to show that really are hungry for something different. According to polling from More in Common, 70 percent of Americans the divisiveness in politics. And it also turns out that … Americans aren’t far apart as we think we are. The problem isn’t how far apart the average Republican and the average Democrat is on actual issues. In fact, we’re not much different than other Western democracies. The problem is how apart we think we are. Due in large part to conflict entrepreneurs in both the media politics, both sides overestimate the extremism on the other side by about 30 percent. Now interestingly, this perception gap is actually amongst progressive activists on the left and amongst extreme conservatives on the right. So the people most engaged in the political process also have most inaccurate views of the other side.
But perhaps the best of all is that there are very practical things that one of us can do every day to help heal the divides in our and our neighborhoods. First, we can start by turning off and tuning out some of those conflict entrepreneurs. My wife and I, we stopped watching news 11 years ago and immediately saw an improvement in our marriage, our family, and our mental health.
(Laughter and applause)
Now that always elicits laugh, but we’re not alone. Studies have found that more spent on the latest headlines, whether through social media or traditional media outlets, really bad for our mental health. Psychologists refer to this phenomenon in different ways, like media saturation overload doomscrolling or headline anxiety. You see, more news, on all the time, isn’t making us smarter, it’s stressing us out.
Second, we can spend more time, offline, with real people who are different than us. In the words of Bryan Stevenson, proximity empower you. You see, it’s just harder to hate up close. “Tell me more about you feel that way” is a magical request.
Twenty years ago, we rarely identified each other by our political identities first. for me, I’m a father. I’m an NBA fan. I’m a terrible aspiring in a band. I’m a Utahn. I’m an American. How about you? You see, if we look beyond our tribes, we can actually find shared identities and friendships that unite instead of divide.
Now third, we can serve others. Service and volunteering help build up and improve our outlook on life and the people around us. Some forms regular volunteering have even been associated with lower blood pressure. is nothing better for the soul or society than giving back. Aristotle really was on to something when he described and up the essence of life as: “Serve others and do good.”
Fourth, and finally, we work to develop the classical political virtues of humility, patience moderation, without which, as John Adams explained, we all ravenous beasts of prey. Now look, I know it’s almost laughable to talk about words like in political discourse, but I truly believe that it is the only way for us to remember how to disagree without and contempt. In the words of Judge Learned Hand, who so stated, “The true spirit of liberty is the spirit which not too sure it is right. The spirit of liberty is the spirit which seeks to understand the minds of men and women.”
And I started with a quote from Ronald Reagan. He went on to say that freedom is not ours by way of inheritance. It must be fought for and defended constantly by generation, for it comes only once to a people and those in history have known freedom and then lost it have never known it again. and gentlemen, it is our solemn duty in our to once again secure the freedoms endowed to all of us from on high. We cannot wait for politicians the media to do it. It will take real work, hard work by of us. But we must remember how to disagree hate.
We must rise up and meet that radical call to love our enemies — even, especially, political opponents. It’s … It’s not an … It’s not an easy answer, but it is simple one. If we really want to change the world, we have to start by changing our hearts.
Thank you.
(Applause)