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