Not So Divided, After All

So saith Carl Anderson, a man for whom I have great respect:

“...We have a moral consensus on the economy, on the need for ethics in government—and even on issues that seem intractable, like abortion, where 8 in 10 Americans can agree on certain restrictions,” Anderson says.

“What we need now,” he urges, “is for people in key institutions to act with courage on these transcendent values.”

Carl A. Anderson, the head of the Knights of Columbus, makes his case in “Beyond A House Divided: The Moral Consensus Ignored By Washington, Wall Street and the Media,” which was released on the same day as the midterm election took place, making its message all the more timely.

Anderson encourages Americans to view politics not just as “red” and “blue” states at opposite ends of the political spectrum. That perspective focuses on the differences and then works toward compromise. Instead, Americans should focus on the core moral beliefs that everyone agrees on and then work toward compromise.

The book presents hard numbers that debunk the myth of a polarized people and show that what division does exist is actually between certain American institutions and the American people, whose values these institutions often don't share.

Anderson shows that the Americans have an opportunity to begin a conversation “where the vast majority of the American people stand” and seek “the common ground already found in the common sense of consensus of the electorate...”