Time - USA (2020-04-06)

64 Time April 6–13, 2020

iT is almosT a Truism ThaT america is more divided Than ever.

In fact, it feels like our lack of consensus is the only thing there is a con-

sensus about.

But go ask someone who just got an early release from federal prison

about this idea of division. Go ask a coal miner, whose health care and

pension the government recently saved. Talk to families facing America’s

addiction crisis, as policies begin to shift to honor their struggle. Quietly,

below the radar, a new kind of bipartisanship is emerging. It tells a dif-

ferent story about who we are as a country—and who we could become.

Bipartisanship today is different from the top-down bipartisanship

of the 1990s and early 2000s, which gave the term a bad odor. That old

approach —led by elite political professionals who ideologically were in

the mushy middle—gave us NAFTA, prisons everywhere and endless wars.

As a result, people of strong political conviction on both the right and

the left came to distrust anyone who talked about “compromise” and

“reaching across the aisle.” And the grassroots—from Black Lives Mat-

ter to the Tea Party, from Bernie Sandernistas to the MAGA-hat crowd—

revolted against the traditional dealmakers in both parties. The resulting

partisan division has convinced the public that the parties can never co-

operate on anything.

But that’s not true. Today’s bipartisanship is actually supported by

strong partisans, not by weak moderates. And it is driven from below:

not by timid insiders but by desperate outsiders whose communities have

been let down and left out for generations.

I discovered this bottom-up bipartisanship while working to fix our

criminal-justice system. In 2014, I helped launch #cut50—a biparti-

san campaign to cut crime and incarceration in half. My progressive co-

founders, Jessica Jackson and Matt Haney, and I had found strong conser-

vative allies, including Newt Gingrich and Koch Industries’ Mark Holden.

Through our work, which took me from South Central L.A. to the red parts

of Pennsylvania to West Virginia and back again, I learned key lessons,

working with “the other side.”

First, the most important formula for bipartisan breakthroughs: pay

less attention to the politics at the top and more attention to the pain at

the bottom. Pick tough issues that neither party has been able to solve.

Only the best people in either party will touch those causes. So you will

start out with great partners.

Second, separate battleground issues from common-ground issues.

Some issues are still hot and divisive. State your differences on those

issues —and then move on to areas where you can get something done.

For example, I work with the libertarians at Koch Industries on criminal-

justice reform while fighting them passionately on environmental policy.

At the end of a conference call, I sometimes tease my right-wing allies:

“O.K., now I gotta go beat you on all the other issues!” You can fiercely

oppose someone on a battleground issue and still work with them on a

common-ground issue.

Third, don’t convert. Cooperate! Don’t try to

make other people adopt your worldview just to

work on a problem together. I’ve found, for instance,

that progressives working to fix the prison system

are often motivated by empathy and a desire for ra-

cial justice. On the other hand, conservatives often

want fiscal restraint, less government overreach and

second-chance redemption for fallen sinners. We

have different reasons, but we want the same result.

Let that be good enough.

Fourth, start human, stay human. Respect that

whoever you are working with on the other side

has noble ideals and values. Don’t make them bear

the cross for the misdeeds of the worst elements

in their own party. They can’t control their yahoos

any more than you can control yours. And when dis-

agreements arise, don’t call people out, based on

your set of principles. If anything, try to call them

up to a higher commitment—inviting them to bet-

ter honor their own principles.

Of cOurse, after Trump’s win, I felt squeezed by

a moral dilemma. As a progressive, I will always fight

policies I see as anti-immigrant, anti- environment,

etc. But a deeper question vexed me: Was resis-

tance enough? Would simply opposing Trump

solve the underlying social problems that predated

and helped fuel his rise? And how should I relate to

HOW TO

MAKE CHANGE

Despite America’s sharp divisions, it’s still possible

to make bipartisan progress By Van Jones

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UWR.Jones.indd 64 3/24/20 10:45 PM