We Americans see ourselves as a deeply-divided nation. 81% of respondents said so in a recent survey by the polling company, Ipsos (April 29, 2024). This election’s heated language and prophesies about the death of democracy reflect that belief.
Our focus on divisiveness brings to mind a passage from Nicholas A. Christakis’s book, Blueprint. “Imagine,” he says, “Studying two hills while standing on a 10,000-foot-high plateau. Seen from your perch, one hill appears to be 300 feet high, the other 900 feet.
“This difference may seem large (after all, one hill is three times the size of the other)…” But, he explains, we’re actually seeing “two very similar mountains, one 10,300 feet high and the other 10,900 feet. In other words, what you see depends on where you stand.”
We’re on that plateau, so to speak, when we observe the fissures that mark America’s political landscape. The differences that exist among us rest on a deeper and more important common ground.
A survey reported on by Douglas Ahler for the Conversation on Feb. 19, 2020 revealed some of the stereotypes that arise from that limited perspective. Respondents over-estimated the proportions of Democrats who were African Americans, union members, gays, lesbians, bisexuals, atheists, and agnostics. And they exaggerated the prevalence among Republicans of extremely rich people, evangelical Christians, Southerners, and people over the age of 65.
A survey about moral stereotypes by Jesse Graham and colleagues, reported in the research journal Plos on Dec. 12, 2012, similarly showed that liberals and conservatives overstated the differences between them in their moral values. “Much of this exaggeration comes from each side underestimating the degree to which the other side shares its own values,” said the authors. But participants also tended to believe that even those in their own camp held views that were more extreme than they really were.
A poll in 2020 by the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy revealed a consensus that’s hard to see when standing on the plateau. Participants of all political stripes gave strong support, at more than 90%, for rights to privacy, voting, free speech, equal protection, equal opportunity, and racial equality. More than 80% considered clean air and water, education, affordable health care, and employment as “essential rights important to being an American today.” More than half, regardless of political party, agreed about the value of racial diversity, the benefits of immigration, the importance of allowing women to make decisions about their bodies and personal life, and the need to regulate social media companies in order to protect privacy.
These beliefs and values are part of an American world-view that’s unique, even in comparison to other democratic nations. A Pew Research Center survey, reported on Nov. 17, 2012, compared America to Britain, Spain, France, and Germany. Americans expressed a strong belief that individual freedom and the ability of people to achieve success on their own was more important than government guarantees that no one is in need, while the opposite was true among the Europeans.
One of the strongest contrasts between us and the rest of the world shows in our almost absolute belief in the right to freedom of speech. The Pew Research Center reported on Oct. 12, 2016 that “Americans emerge as the biggest supporters of free expression” compared to 37 other nations, and that this support holds across party lines. People in other democratic countries are often perplexed by our protection of offensive speech that’s outlawed in their own countries, according to a report on NPR’s All Things Considered on Sept. 19, 2012.
The contrast with the beliefs and values that Americans share is even more dramatic when we look at non-democratic and partly democratic states, including China, Russia, and Iran, where the world-view is 180 degrees opposed to ours.
The disagreements between the two sides in this election are real and important. I have on my part criticized Donald Trump in previous articles for his anti-democratic tendencies. We must nevertheless resist the temptation in this heated election season to frame it as a life-or-death struggle between pure good and evil.
Observing the political landscape from the top of the plateau can be deceptive. MAGA Republicans, progressive Democrats, and all the rest of us stand together, whether we realize it or not, on a deep bedrock of shared values and beliefs. Our future depends on our ability to see that what we have in common is bigger than what divides us.
Lowell Harp is a retired school psychologist who served school districts in Ogle County. His column runs monthly in The Ogle County Life. For previous articles, you can follow him on Facebook at http://fb.me/lowellharp.
