Andy Stanley - What Responsible Politics Looks Like
The United States of America. Now, the, the challenge of course right now is that we, we don't feel, and it doesn't seem like we're very united these days, and I think that bugs most of us, it seems like everything automatically gets divided up into one of two buckets. Even though we're the United States of America, everything either goes in a red bucket or a blue bucket, no matter what the issue is or what the, whatever the topic is, immediately there's a view that divide. It's like whatever view you hold, it's like, oh, red everything. And you're like, well, no, no, not a hundred percent red. You're looking pretty red, blue, you're blue. No, no, I'm not. No, yet you're blue.
If that's your view on that particular topic, you go in the blue bucket, two buckets, right and left, right red and blue. And I don't think anybody's happy about that. Are we, are you, are you happy about that? I mean, normal people aren't happy about that. I mean, has division, I don't think there's a good answer to this. Has division ever led to a solution? If it has, it's the exception. Certainly not the rule, right? I mean, can demonizing, and this is the, you know, this is the part we should just, this is just drive us crazy. Can demonizing half the population based on party affiliation or skin color bring us together? Can demonizing and criticizing half the population because of party affiliation, or the way somebody acts, or the way somebody believes, or the way somebody looks, can demonizing a whole group of people that you don't even know? I don't even know.
Can that possibly bring us together? The answer's? No. Here's an idea. Why don't we, why don't we despise division as much as we despise people who don't vote like us? The enemy is not the Republican or the Democratic party. The, the, our enemy is not a party. Our enemy is the division because it slows everything down and it causes people to be heard, and it causes people's voice not to be heard when the pendulum swings from one extreme to the other. So why don't we all just decide? Do you know who the enemy is? The enemy is the division. And when you're alone by yourself thinking about this, you know, and I know this hap this is absolutely true because it's in the middle.
In the middle, what's obvious becomes apparent in the middle. We all agree on this. Regardless of your political persuasion or your religious persuasion, or if you, if you even have one in the middle, we say, yeah, here's what's obvious. Here's what's apparent. What's best for people is what's best. What's best for people is what's best. What's best for people is what's best. And in the middle, we can debate what's best for people without dehumanizing and without demonizing people who don't agree with us about what's best for people. Because we will always disagree around the edges, and we will always disagree around the margins about what's best for people. But we can't disagree and hopefully we don't disagree that what's best for people is what's best.
And those solutions are found when we come together and leverage our resources, all of our resources and all of our brain trust to solve the big problems that we wrestle with in our communities and our nation and ultimately in the world. The question is, will we choose to? 'cause unity can't be mandated. Unity must be chosen, and here's the most important part, and somebody has to go first. How about going first in your family, in your community at work? So let's not just tolerate one another. Let's love one another. Let's don't just be law abiding citizens. Anybody can do that.
Let's just, let's be Jesus followers and the words of Paul. Then we will shine among them like stars and the sky. Isn't this what you wanna do? Isn't this worth giving your life to? Isn't this why we should follow Jesus? That we don't have to wait, we don't have to wait for an election cycle. We don't have to wait. We can shine among them like stars in the sky just by embracing the simple idea that I'm to leverage my freedom for the benefit of the people around me. And then maybe just, maybe we can make our way to the middle where problems are solved and things change. And not for our sake, but for the sake of our communities and our nation, and ultimately for the sake of the world.