Cultural Revolution and Human Understanding

I encountered two images last night worth talking about.

Our daughter called us after leaving a Hillary rally and she commented that Democratic rallies are love fests where everyone feels welcome. Yes, that’s a large part of my own positive reaction to Hillary. People reflect the candidates – warmth at Hillary rallies, anger at Trump’s.

And in an article on an on-line forum, Neil Siegel wrote “The consequentialist concern that traditionalists will be branded as bigots is sufficiently serious for Justice Alito that it counts as a reason for the Court to reject” constitutional claims.

I identify with our daughter’s reaction. But Siegel’s comment makes clear one of the reasons my former student, now vice president of a major news organization, wrote me that he understands the feelings of many good people who have been drawn to Trump’s banner. Part of that is the economic struggle of America’s working class, a subject I’ve repeatedly tried to address. But part is the culture war which I’d like to address today.

It’s often hard to win without gloating. And conservatives have been no better at it than liberals. But it’s important. That’s not to say the victories we liberals are fighting for are for sale. We want to welcome, protect, show warmth and respect toward all kinds of people who were once despised. We’ve shared many victories with our African-American friends without managing to get them the fair shake in this life that they deserve. But that circle of friendship needs to reach all those who are struggling in this challenging world.

Living as a minority of one in a distinct community reveals the warmth, welcome and dignity of sharing each other’s lives. Born in a predominantly Jewish part of Brooklyn, if I can be permitted to address it from my personal experience, I spent summers in Christian Chautauqua and felt the love and welcome. Born a few years before the best universities in the country decided to drop their quotas, I took my high school college advisor’s suggestion to apply to Princeton and was surprised when I went for an interview by their encouragement to come. By the time I applied to law school, the welcome this Brooklyn kid got was less surprising. When I left Yale, I enjoyed another welcome by the legal staff of the NAACP and then in the Peace Corps by the people I came to know in Iran. I discovered a long time ago that the fears of others’ reactions were my fears. I went south to meet my future wife’s Baptist family and got one of the most important welcomes of my life. I hope they felt the same from me.

So opening up to others now comes easily to me. But I too understand the depth of the cultural revolution. I hope we can extend that welcome so that everyone can enjoy the camaraderie and mutual respect that comes from really opening up. When Hillary says she wants to be the president for all the people, she strikes the right note. But I hope that the people who will vote against her will prove able to see her care and concern better than people were able to appreciate those qualities in Barack Obama.

— This commentary was broadcast on WAMC Northeast Report, Nov. 1, 2016.