We all have to live together

I grew up on a farm in southeast Iowa. My parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles were all lifelong Republicans — some even ran for office. Politics wasn’t something we fought about; it was just part of life, like chores or Sunday church.

I, however, turned out to be a lifelong liberal. Not because of rebellion or persuasion, but because that’s how my heart and mind are wired. Some people are born conservative and some liberal. It’s not a flaw; it’s part of human variety.

What’s changed — and what worries me — is how much harder it’s become for people with different instincts to live together. Too many of us now consume media designed to make us angry at “the other side.” It’s a slow poison that turns neighbors into enemies.

Utah’s Republican governor, Spencer Cox, recently spoke about this after Charlie Kirk’s assassination. He said he gave up Fox News 12 years ago — a “Fox News addiction,” he called it — and now leads an effort called Disagree Better, reminding Americans that politics isn’t supposed to be a war. It’s a conversation about how to live together.

The way forward starts with empathy: listening without labeling, turning off the outrage machine, and remembering that the person we disagree with is often the same one who’d pull us out of a ditch on a winter morning.

We all share this patch of earth. Let’s act like it.

Eric Johnson

Oxford