Beyond the Messy Truth: How We Came Apart, How We Come Together by Van JonesMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
As far as political books go, I found this one to be engaging and thought-provoking. The main idea that I took away from it is that hard-core tribalism that is consuming our politics (on both sides) is actually hurting our country. The truth is, we need both liberals and conservatives. Each side has different ideas and perspectives and is needed to balance the other, but when they refuse to engage in civil debate and insist on winning rather than finding the middle ground, nothing gets done and the people suffer. We all have a common purpose and this should lead to a desire to come up with solutions for the good of all. We may have different ideas on how to get there, but we all know that when we are better together than apart. We are called the United States for a reason.
In my opinion, Jones made a concerted effort to be as unbiased as possible, meaning that he didn't set out to play the blame game. Even though he is a liberal, he didn't just point the figure at conservatives. He pointed out challenges facing both sides, many of which I agreed with, and put forth a fairly common sense solution to bridging the divide. I find it beyond frustrating to watch our politicians at work and the dysfunction that is plaguing our system, but I do have hope that common sense and common purpose will eventually win out.
I think books like this one are a good start for opening that dialogue and show that there is a desire to not necessarily bring the sides together but create a space where we can still disagree respectfully and use our different ideas to create better solutions. It's done every day in the home, workplace, and in business. It's necessary for innovation and progress. I hope we can all remember this sooner rather than later.
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