A Mantra for Surviving American Politics

Repeat something from this list aloud at least once a day:

  1. No matter how intelligent and informed I am, some of my beliefs and opinions are wrong.
  2. Listening to others doesn’t mean I agree with them.
  3. Hearing only what I already believe does not help me understand the world.
  4. I only learn new perspectives from people with different opinions.
  5. Some things are obviously true only because of the assumptions I carry.
  6. I want to understand why people have opinions so different from my own.
  7. People who believe things I dislike are not necessarily evil or stupid.
  8. Diversity of opinion is the foundation of a constitutional republic; we can’t exist without it.