There is a lot of evidence to suggest that Americans are not as divided politically as it would seem. Yes, our elected officials struggle to work together on the more important issues. But people outside of the beltway continue to see eye-to-eye on issues more often than they don’t. This is one of the reasons we at Common Ground Committee believe that finding common ground on important issues is achievable. Check out this DC Decoder article from our media partner, the Christian Science Monitor.

Recently, Thomas J. Donohue, CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, gave an important speech about restoring civility. His remarks are important:

. . . Most of our rights in a free society also carry responsibilities. This is especially true when it comes to speech. I strongly believe that the right to speak carries with it the responsibility to listen. . . to give others a fair hearing . . . to be open to different points of views. In my view, it’s the stubborn refusal to listen that is the cause of much of the incivility and dysfunction we see in Washington and across our country today. Restoring civility in American life must begin by reaffirming our commitment to everyone’s right to speak — and everyone’s responsibility to listen. . .

Sometimes common ground is actually not the right goal. Rather, bringing about tolerance and understanding among those of opposing views is the place to focus because how people view those that differ rather than the differences themselves is the problem. These two gentlemen found common ground in the need to address exactly that problem. Our political leaders in the US, for sure, need to find common ground on the challenging issues the nation faces. But they would be well served to also take a page out of the book being written by Mr. Wuye and Mr. Ashafa and work on finding, demonstrating and promoting the respect necessary for working together. Read the article