Have you noticed? The Emergence of a New Political Party
Nov 06, 2020The polls would have us believe that “our country is divided.” But I don’t think that’s true.
What might be true, however, might make you look in another direction.
With movies like The Social Dilemma and Black Mirror, it’s easy to understand how this “divide” happens... but I won’t get into that here. What I will get into is this.
A new party is emerging.
But what will we call it?
Being asked to choose "red or blue" collapses our essence.
If you zoom in on the election map even just a little bit, you’ll notice that no state is just red or blue. They’re all purple- even California. Each state is a mix. But we’re asked to ignore that.
And right now, I think we’re all realizing that “red or blue” isn’t enough.
A new party is emerging.
But what will we call it?
By being forced to choose between red and blue, we’re being forced to abandon what we really desire.
By being forced to choose between right and left, we’re blinded from pointing our finger in the direction of the real problem, which is in neither of those directions.
I spent last night reading comments on both CNN and FOX News and realized very quickly that most all of us want the same thing—but we’re pointing in the wrong direction.
We’re being forced to point our fingers at one another instead of in the direction of a 400-year-old system that isn’t working for any of us.
A new party is emerging.
But, again—what will we call it?
My younger sisters asked me the other day if they should block and unfollow everyone who voted for “him.” They were surprised by my answer.
No.
I told them to do the more courageous thing...
Talk to them.
I sat next to a Trump supporter on my flight last week who told me she “didn’t like Trump” but was voting for him because she felt like she “had to.” I said the same about Biden.
She told me that all of her friends and trusted news sources told her that Black Lives Matter was a racist movement that was creating division and ripping our country, and people, apart. I told her I felt the same about MAGA.
She then told me I was the first ever person of color to sit down and have a conversation with her about it. I held her in my heart. And she held me in hers.
The truth is, she was lovely. She wasn’t racist. Of course she has some learning to do – but if I “cancelled her” right away, would she ever get the opportunity to understand? Would I?
What we landed on together was this:
“They’ve” been trained to think about “us” the same way “we’ve” been trained to think about “them.”
And we're being forced to choose something we don’t want, and then blaming one another for the shortcomings of a system that isn't working for most all of us.
But a new party is emerging.
What will we call it?
I’ve never wanted to run for office before—until today. But if I do, it won’t be red or blue.
Maybe it’ll be purple.
Watching the red and blue lines creep toward one another last night had me feeling like instead of them stopping at the center, I wanted them to bleed into one another like I did with that lady on the plane.
Red and blue merging together.
Which is the true essence of America.
Instead of pointing right and left, maybe we need to point a little more inward. Or upward. Or even backward sometimes to heal the past. But most importantly, let us point forward.
The only way we’re going to change anything in this nation is if we learn to fall in love with one another again.
A new party is forming.
But what will we call it?
And I love you all.
+justin
ps… remember our community gathers for a beautiful session every Sunday called The Kingdom. With all that’s going on, this week will be extra special. You can join us here. It’s always free. And it starts at 11:11am PT/ 2:11pm ET.
