I’ve been saying for a while that the mission of the Truth Party is simple:
Turn spectators into citizens.
But there’s an obvious question.
How the hell do we actually do that?
I think I finally know.
We start by talking to each other.
That’s it.
Not arguing.
Not posting.
Not yelling at somebody on Facebook.
Not sitting on the couch watching two people on television scream at each other about what’s wrong with America.
Actually talking to another human being.
That’s what I’ve been doing.
I went out and started talking to strangers.
Different ages. Different races. Different religions. Different politics. Different sexual orientations. Different economic backgrounds.
People who, according to everything we see on television and social media, are supposed to be divided into little camps and suspicious of everybody outside their own.
But something remarkable happens when you sit across from somebody and actually listen.
The differences start getting smaller.
Because underneath all the labels, people keep telling me essentially the same thing.
They want a decent life.
They want a job that pays enough to live.
They want an affordable place to call home.
They want healthcare when they get sick.
They want their children to be safe.
They want good schools.
They want opportunity.
They want somebody to love.
They want to be respected.
And they want to believe their children and grandchildren might inherit something better than what we have today.
That’s America.
And I think we’ve forgotten it.
We have built this enormous machine that makes money and accumulates power by convincing us that the person on the other side is the enemy.
Republicans are the enemy.
Democrats are the enemy.
Immigrants are the enemy.
Gay people are the enemy.
Rich people are the enemy.
Poor people are the enemy.
Pick your network. Pick your algorithm. Pick your enemy.
Meanwhile, most of us are sitting in the same damn boat.
And while we’re arguing about who gets to sit at which end of it, the boat is taking on water.
So how do we change it?
I think there are five steps.
Talk.
Listen.
Understand.
Organize.
Act.
First, talk to somebody.
Preferably somebody you don’t already know.
Then—and this is the part Americans have apparently forgotten how to do—shut up for a minute and listen.
Don’t listen so you can prepare your rebuttal.
Listen because you genuinely want to understand another human being.
And once you do that, something extraordinary happens.
You start finding common ground.
Not on everything.
We’re never going to agree on everything.
And we shouldn’t.
That would be boring as hell.
But maybe we don’t need to agree on everything.
Maybe we need to figure out the things 80 percent of us already agree on and start there.
Then we organize.
Because a hundred million Americans sitting alone saying, “Somebody ought to do something,” accomplishes absolutely nothing.
That’s spectatorship.
Citizenship begins when one of those people turns to another and says:
“Why don’t WE do something?”
Now you’ve got two.
Two becomes ten.
Ten becomes a hundred.
A hundred becomes a thousand.
And eventually politicians stop telling citizens what they’re going to do—
and citizens start telling politicians what WE are going to do.
That’s democracy.
And then comes the final step:
Act.
Vote.
Show up.
Go to the city council meeting.
Call your representative.
Volunteer.
Organize your neighborhood.
Help somebody.
Run for office.
Start something.
And maybe most importantly:
Talk to another stranger.
Because before we can rebuild this country, I think we have to rebuild our connection to each other.
That’s what this whole experience has taught me.
I started out thinking I was conducting interviews.
I’m beginning to realize I was conducting an experiment.
What happens when you remove the television?
Remove the algorithm?
Remove the political party?
Remove the labels?
And put two Americans face-to-face?
You know what I found?
People.
Not Democrats.
Not Republicans.
Not demographics.
People.
People who are worried.
People who are hopeful.
People who are struggling.
People who are funny.
People who are complicated.
People who want their lives to mean something.
And people who are a hell of a lot more alike than we’ve been led to believe.
So here’s my challenge.
Don’t just watch this.
Because then you’re still a spectator.
Go talk to somebody.
Ask them what matters to them.
Listen to the answer.
Find something you agree on.
Then find another person.
And another.
And another.
Because maybe changing America doesn’t begin in Washington.
Maybe it begins on a park bench.
At a coffee shop.
At a barbershop.
At a Pride festival.
At church.
At work.
Or standing next to somebody you’ve never met and simply saying:
“Hey. Can I ask you a question?”
That’s how this starts.
Talk.
Listen.
Understand.
Organize.
Act.
Stop being a spectator.
Become a citizen.
And then let’s get to fucking work.
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