Our Political Process and The Golden Rule

When I was a teenager, I worked at a private country club. There was a men’s only room where cards were played, copious amounts of alcohol was consumed, and off-color jokes and stories dominated the conversation.

As I look back on this, it was good that this area was off-limits to women: most women would have been appalled at what was being shared and laughed at.

Donald Trump grew up in the culture of a men’s only back rooms in the country clubs where men speak their mind and there is no “politically incorrect” speech. If only Donald Trump believed in the Golden Rule:

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

I don’t see any exclusion in the Golden Rule for Mexicans, Latinos, Muslims, Syrians, etc. The Golden Rule is about compassion, not intolerance.

America needs to stand by our core values which include embracing the Golden Rule. Our core values don’t include embracing fear, uncertainty and doubt. We are about inclusivity as a nation, not exclusivity.

Rather than seeking ways to stop the flow of refugees seeking refuge from war and terror, we should be looking for ways to accelerate the process. We shouldn’t be using fear, uncertainty and doubt to stall the process. We should be looking for ways to drive the process faster while simultaneously taking steps to ensure our safety.

Our dominant American reflex should be to live by the Golden Rule. That’s what I want our political leaders to be fundamentally about in 2016.

Happy New Year!

Thought for the week:

“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”

― Emma Lazarus, an excerpt from the sonnet The New Colossus written for raising funds to pay for the base of The Statue of Liberty