Tense (3 Ideas for Election Week)

Today, I have three ideas I want to bring together:  the bug/feature in our two-party political system, Carl Jung’s “Third Thing,” and how the tension can lead us to a new way forward together.

PART 1: The Bug/Feature in Our Political System

In 1950, the American Political Science Association Committee on Political Parties released a report titled "Towards a More Responsible Two Party System."

This report determined that the American party system needed to become more polarized.

Yes - more polarized.

This may sound bonkers given where we are at today, but understand the state of politics 75 years ago and the role that parties are supposed to play in a democracy.

As Ezra Klein writes in his book Why We're Polarized, "To understand the political scientists' concerns, we need to understand the role political parties are supposed to play in a democracy. Consider the issues that you, as a citizen, are routinely asked to render a judgement on. Should we go to war in Iraq, or Syria, or Iran, or North Korea? Does it make sense to organize our health-care system around private insurers brought to heel by regulations and an individual mandate? What is the proper term for a copyright - should it last for a decade, four decades, a hundred years, or until the sun burns out and dooms this fragile world? Should federal tax revenues equal 28 percent of GDP, 31 percent of GDP, or 39 percent of GDP over the next decade? What's the proper level of immigration each year, and how much of it should go to reuniting families and how much to filling economic needs? Would breaching the debt ceiling really damage America's creditworthiness forevermore? None of us can amass sufficient expertise on such a range of topics... Political parties are shortcuts... they offer the electorate a proper range of choice between alternatives."

But the parties and their policies were not sorted along coherent ideologies back then.  Instead of offering a choice between two different visions, they were offering mush.  You had a mixed bag of things that aligned with your values and things that did not - no matter which party you voted for.

For a two party system to be healthy, you need to have distinct choices to choose from.

During this time, it was common for voters to split their ticket (meaning: vote for a mix of Republicans and Democrats). Today, people who identify as "independents" vote more regularly for one party than did "partisans" of the past!

Over the past 50 years, the parties have slowly become more sorted around values and issues.  And in response, Americans began voting more partisan/straight ticket.

Here's what's weird: Voters behavior has become more partisan, but they have become less party allegiant.  In 1964, about 80% of voters said they belonged to one party or the other.  By 2012, the number had dropped to 63%.

So why are we more likely now to vote straight ticket, even if we don't necessarily feel devoted to a political party?

Ezra's key idea here: Negative Partisanship.
We are more "blah" about the candidates we are backing, but more fearful of the opponent.

We are more defined by what we are against that what we are for.

The two parties that used to be quite similar and overlapping in their values and approaches have moved farther and farther away from each other on the spectrum of values and policies.

And as the parties have become more different, the country has become more partisan in response.

Because they're so drastically polarized.
Because the system is set up to be that way.
Because we need distinct choices.

Ezra's surprising conclusion:
Our political situation today is not the system breaking.
It's the system doing what it has been set up to do.

So why does it feel like the whole thing has gone completely sideways?

PART 2:  The Tension and the Third Thing

Many spiritual traditions see Reality as a Oneness that appears as duality.
Light/Dark, Left/Right, Male/Female, Body/Soul.
The seeming polarity is secretly One.
One side can't exist without the other.
What is Up without Down?

The Genesis creation story begins with the Divine One separating things into their opposites:
Light/Dark, Day/Night, Water/Land, Birds/Land Animals, Male/Female.

What seem like opposing forces are actually united, one, integral to each other.

I want to pose this framing:  the tension between seeming opposites is the necessary, inherent force at the heart of creation that is moving the whole thing forward.

We need the tension.
We need the opposites.
We need the contrasts.

The mythology scholar Michael Meade says, "The purpose of the tension between things is not to have a winner, but to find the third thing that emerges from the tension of opposites.  It's the structural precondition for meaningful change. The problem isn't opposition, but that we're not ready to deal with opposition in a way that leads to creative, meaningful change."

To apply this to politics,  it's good and healthy to have different, opposing ideas on how to shape things.
What we're missing is a healthy way of entering into that tension of opposites in a way that allows a third thing to arise.

Carl Jung called the new thing that arises from the tension of opposites the "transcendent third thing."
It's not a compromise between the two opposites.
It's not an averaging of the two or a blend of the polarizing forces.
It's something altogether new.

Like flour and water creating bread.
Like protons and electrons creating an atom.
Like sperm and egg creating something, someone new and distinct from the two that came together to create them.

In the case of politics, holding the tension of Red and Blue does not create Purple.

Jung also said that the third thing that arises from the tension of opposites is always a surprise - because it's something that has yet to penetrate our defenses or imagination.

Maybe what feels broken about our political system right now is not (just) that we have parties that are broken - but what needs fixing is our ability to hold the tension of the necessary opposing forces. We are not able to stay in the tension long enough for it to generate new insights, energy and action.

So how do we create a system that can hold the tension of opposites in a mature, healthy way that can create new, healthy paths forward?

I think we must start with the people in that system.
And, of course, that means we must start with ourselves.

PART 3:  How to Create Something New

"We will become our opposite if we do not learn to accommodate the opposition within us." - Carl Jung.
Our systems are mirrors of ourselves.
If the systems we've created cannot hold the tension of opposites, it's because we cannot yet hold the tension.

We can see this all as an invitation -
an invitation to practice entering into the tension.

To become aware of how we collapse on one side or the other.
To notice the ways we eject out of the tension
through scapegoating, victimizing, ignorance or apathy.

Whether politics or otherwise, this is our work in life, relationships and work.

The parent holds the tension between the inherent goodness of their child and the need to discipline and shape them.
The spouses learn to hold the tension in an argument until the third way arises that allows for both of their needs and desires.
The entrepreneur holds the tension between their genius and the marketplace until a valuable product/service emerges.
The individual holds the tension between wanting to be in real community with others and needing healthy boundaries.

This is the work of maturing,
of growing up,
of becoming wise.

The mature person is able to withstand the tension of opposites.
A child is one that cannot hold it, collapsing on one side of the tension or the other.

And this is how we create something new.
When we cannot hold the tension of opposites, we become locked in the binary.
We cannot create anything new, we cannot move forward,
because we are stuck in a zero-sum, win-lose game.
It's only when we can withstand - and eventually understand -
the tension that we unlock the ability to move into a new future together.

We usually cannot do this alone.
We need others to help us hold the tension and hold us in the times that we collapse under it.
We need others to process through what the tension brings up in us.

And we need practices.  Ways of practicing holding the tension in small, daily ways.
So that we grow into People Who Hold the Polarity.
Which is really People Who Trust the Tension.
Which is really People Who Can Create the New.

This process of holding the tension is not about being passive, stuck or inactive.
It's about letting the tension lead us to action that is actually productive, creative and inclusive.
Yes, it may require sitting in the tension for a minute, a day or even a season,
until the tension has produced in you the insight or ability to see a new path forward -
but, like a caterpillar in a cocoon, that too is incredibly active work,
even if it's not visible from the outside.

We do this work because it's the path of peace, energy and creativity.
It's the way towards a more beautiful, inclusive and meaningful future.
And because it's where the joy is at.

There may be no better week than this week to practice holding the tension of opposites.

And - if you find you're unable to hold that - that's okay too.
We always stumble towards growth.
We collapse many times in learning to hold the tension.
That's just how it goes.

And here, my friends, you are welcome whether you are mourning, celebrating, or feeling the tension of it all.
So am I.

Let's hold the tension together.