Short Thoughts

This weekend I was listening to the re-release of the How to Have Great Conversations episode of the People I Mostly Admire podcast. Levitt and Duhigg discuss the three types of conversations: problem solving, emotional and relational. At one point Levitt says it took him until his 40’s to realize people have various goals in conversations, not just to find solutions.

It only seems natural to me we overly focus seeing things from our perspective, even when taking into account theory of mind. No area is excluded from this, including politics; especially politics.

Enter Arnold Kling’s The Three Languages of Politics. His thesis is that Progressives, conservatives, and libertarians each speak a different language, they each have a different way of expressing their point of view.

• Progressives
  • Oppressor and Oppressed
  • Concerned with the power dynamics between groups of people or organizations. They see government as a means to address this by ensuring justice for the oppressed.
• Conservatives
  • Civilization and Barbarism
  • Concerned about the order, values, and structure of society. They see government as a way to protect these from forces that could disrupt them, which include a breakdown of the rule of law.
• Libertarians
  • Freedom and Coercion
  • Concerned about people being able to make their own choices. They see government as a threat to this, believing its coercion (through taxation and regulation) is the main impediment to individual liberty and prosperity.

All three deal with a form of injustice, but the injustice is seen through a different lens, and therefore differ on what should be done.

In an effort to understand how these play out here is my attempt to think through the issue of immigration, documented and undocumented, in the United States. Each position could be fleshed out further, but for this discussion the context is limited to the direct concerns of the three languages.

Progressives see immigrants as a vulnerable people. It is government’s responsibility to welcome them and provide aid.

Conservatives see immigrants as a disruption to society. It is the government’s responsibility to protect society and foster an environment for citizens to thrive.

Libertarians see immigrants as groups of people who have been denied the ability to make their own choices. The current situation has been brought about by government’s hindrances to immigration as well as the assistance it provides.

This highlights the challenges of coming to agreement about immigration, which is not unique to this topic. It it helpful to keep in mind that these do not represent the entire perspective of people who hold these positions, instead it is the language they come to the issue with. Therefore, agreements can still be found, and they are more apt to be found when keeping in mind that people are likely to describe their position in one of these terms. It is also important to remember that people’s perspective is rich and nuanced.

I often think about the word Sonder:

The profound feeling of realizing that everyone, including strangers passing in the street, has a life as complex as one’s own, which they are constantly living despite one’s personal lack of awareness of it.

The thought of this word produces a sense of wonder and amazement. I hope to carry this sense with me into more relationships and interactions, including conversations on immigration.