The Messy Way Forward

Each year the Durham County Library sponsors a series of events surrounding one book chosen for the community to read, called "Durham Reads Together."  I propose a variant of this, called "USA Watches Together," where we all watch Steven Spielberg's new movie Lincoln. 

For to watch this movie is to be reminded that both vision and horse-trading make democracy work.  In it, we see vividly that passage of the 13th amendment--to abolish slavery in the United States--required manipulation and compromise on the part of its main players.  The "My way or the highway" thinking that dominates our current political discourse simply didn't work in 1865 and it won't work today.

What will work is a president who has a vision, legislators who can make a deal, at least a few people who vote their conscience, and everyone willing to get their hands a little dirtier than they'd like.