Thread by @Helenreflects

Short thread: Just heard John McCain's farewell letter to America, read by a close friend here.
Read the full text here: theatlantic.com/politics/archi… 1/

Against the white nationalism that now so dominates US he said "We are citizens of the world’s greatest republic, a nation of ideals, not blood and soil. We are blessed and are a blessing to humanity when we uphold and advance those ideals at home and in the world. 2/

But one thing struck me in particular "We are 325 million opinionated, vociferous individuals. We argue and compete and sometimes even vilify each other in our raucous public debates. But we have always had so much more in common with each other than in disagreement." 3/

Compare with Jo Cox, who said in her maiden speech "While we celebrate our diversity, what surprises me time and time again as I travel around the constituency is that we are far more united and have far more in common with each other than things that divide us." 3/

These were two politicians from very different sides of the political spectrum conservative (Republican) and left-wing/progressive (Labour) and yet they both recognize the importance about how much we have in common, it's sometimes easy to forget. 4/

I have conservative friends (I am not conservative myself), still friends who support Brexit (some of them have gone quiet though!), I have lots of atheist friends (I am a Christian), etc. and I sometimes forget how much we have in common. 5/

Things like love, friendship, family, music, good food. We need to think carefully that some politicians gain a lot from dividing us. It is sometimes good to try to look beyond disagreements for common ground. It's not easy. 6/

I am very strongly opposed to Brexit, for instance. Still, without at least trying to look over these divisions and to find common ground, I do not see a way forward (this does not mean buying into unicorn-Brexit fantasies, obviously 7/)

But it does mean continuing to find common ground
To have civil discussions (I'm really not a fan of shouting matches, I recognize some people see the need to "punch up"), to find common projects. 8/

This was just a brief thread to remind myself and potentially others to continue this.
RIP John McCain, RIP Jo Cox. You both understood something we're losing sight of.
/ends