Let's Workshop This

Is a compelling list of 'Shared Concerns' something we could actually crack?

Those of you who joined my unruly Zoom on Monday know what I’m working on: drafting a short list of “universals” that could be taken into any town hall across the country—and everyone present would at least agree that the list represents “Shared Concerns.”

In the various Dens of Polarization (some formal, some informal) that I visit to stress-test my ideas, I’ve already had four drafts blow up on contact.

What I’ve learned so far:

The list has to be very short. Most people are thinking about dinner, not political philosophy. (And to be clear: no shade. My family wishes I thought more about dinner.)

Every item on the list needs to be aggressively vague. Anything that smacks of a possible solution (e.g. “universal healthcare”) is likely to alienate and derail—before any sense of shared interests has a chance to take root.

At the same time, vagueness is itself a risk. There’s a lot of despair out there. When I say this in fancy spaces, the assumption is that I’m talking about the Trump administration’s assault on Democracy. But the despair I mean is personal—and predates Trump by years, sometimes decades. In lots of places in America, people are despairing because their lives just don’t work. In desperate spaces, vague propositions look not like an earnest attempt to find common ground; they smack of empty promises—and are (understandably) met with the very apathy or cynicism that led so many to stay home last November.

So: back to the drawing board. ::hands out markers:: Surely we can crack this, right?

Kate

P.S. I’m not writing about Trump and Elon—because, well, everyone else is. But don’t mistake restraint for virtue: yesterday on the ferry, I had my laptop out, and I was mainlining updates on the slapdown when everyone suddenly ran out onto the deck. For a brief, unhinged moment, I wondered: Is this fracas somehow visible out there?? (It was orcas.) I don’t know what it says about me—or this moment—that I assumed it might be the clown show breaching.