Listen First Project

Dear friends,

I want to thank you for your support of my blog over the years and introduce you to my new non profit initiative, Listen First Project.

My wife and I spent the first half of this year in Uganda with an international relief and development organization. You can read about our spectacular and profound experience here. While on an overnight bus ride between Uganda and Kenya, I wrote a commentary on the desperate need for listening to one another in America and around the world. My thoughts have since been printed in dozens of newspapers across the country with over a million readers.

I wanted to find a way to translate those words into action and make a tangible impact on societal discourse. In August, I launched the non profit Listen First Project to facilitate greater understanding, respect and cooperation by encouraging the timeless but abandoned practice of listening to each other, regardless of politics, religion, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, education or any other distinction. I believe in the power of listening to transform our discourse and change the world.

Listen First Project has rapidly grown into an active movement with a global leadership team and tremendous promise for effecting transformative change, one conversation at a time. I would love for you to check it out and join me.

Thanks and Happy New Year!

Pearce

Rx for political rancor: Let’s try listening (Raleigh News & Observer)

By Pearce Godwin

It’s 3:30 a.m., and I’m on a bus between Kampala, Uganda, and Nairobi, Kenya, thinking of my coming return to the United States. As I bump along the Kenyan countryside under the night sky, I’m troubled by the political rancor I’ll be stepping back into.

I’m a Christian, a conservative and a Republican, but all three of those families have disappointed and embarrassed me from time to time. Too many of my Christian brothers and sisters have gotten into the habit of spewing judgment and condemnation at those with whom they disagree. There’s only one problem with this: It’s wrong – terribly, grossly, hypocritically wrong. Of many Bible verses to support this point, the Greatest Commandment seems like a solid choice: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

How many times have we looked at Christians speaking on political or cultural issues and said, “Gee, that person is filled with love for his fellow man”? Not often, and that’s a shame. God help those of us who forget we are no better than anyone else and decide to hop onto our self-righteous soapbox condemning others as if we have standing to judge. We don’t.

I have strong moral convictions on a host of issues and believe Christians and non-Christians alike should take their convictions into the voting booth without reproach. We call that democracy. What we should not do – if we hope for a healthy, prosperous nation – is demagogue our neighbors because they see the world differently and suggest that not only their opinions but they themselves are somehow less. Such behavior is immature, anti-social and un-American.

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As for conservatives and Republicans, aiming vitriol at the other side is both unproductive and self-defeating. Politics is not the central battleground between good and evil. There are black and white issues, principled issues worth fighting for, but these are the exception, not the rule. There is an awful lot of gray area in public policy ripe for negotiation and compro$@!& (don’t want to offend lawmakers with profanity).

Today the parties behave as if every issue were an existential threat requiring a last stand. Elections are a competition; legislating should be a more collective and bipartisan effort toward positive action on behalf of an American people who expect sensible and productive representation. The same critique holds for my liberal and Democratic friends.

Rather than looking at our dysfunctional political system with the scorn and incredulity that it deserves, many of us dive into the cesspool head first and carry the torch of division and demagoguery to Main Street. We’ve successfully created a country of warring factions, and it’s ripping America apart at the seams. When it takes foreign terrorists slaughtering our neighbors to unite us, something is horribly wrong.

Now, for my humble prescription: Listen. That’s it. Listen. I borrowed the idea from God because He’s smarter than I am: “Be quick to listen, slow to speak.”

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We have a moral responsibility to listen and gain an understanding of the other side’s position. What good is it to hold fiercely to a position that we’ve not bothered to weigh or pressure test against divergent perspectives? Too often we engage in mutual reinforcement parties with friends of like mind. We call this pervasive American practice “confirmation bias.” Technology has allowed such complete fracturing of the information pipeline that most Americans are hearing exactly what they want to hear from people just like them without ever having their ideas questioned or challenged. Not only do we have our own opinions; now we have our own facts. This is dangerous.

What if we turned off our favored news source, sat down with someone of a different perspective and listened, leaving as much bias and prejudice as humanly possible at the door? Then imagine if your new good practice were adopted on park benches across America, in school cafeterias and, yes, even in the halls of Congress and streets of Raleigh. While we’d still hold different, even competing, views, we’d be able to move beyond slander and seek common ground, each with a newfound appreciation and respect for the other side.

The sun is now rising over Nairobi. It’s time for a new day in America as well. It’s time to listen.

Pearce Godwin graduated from Duke University in 2008 and spent five years in Washington working on Capitol Hill and with a political consulting firm. He is currently working in East Africa.
Originally published in the Raleigh News & Observer on August 3, 2013

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/08/02/3078616/rx-for-political-rancor-lets-try.html#storylink=cpy

It's Time to Listen

From East Africa

Six months on the other side of the world does wonders for one's perspective. With my wife Chrissy, I've had the privilege of supporting international development projects in Karamoja, Uganda as part of a management fellowship with Samaritan's Purse, a Christian international relief organization. (Read our blog from Uganda for more.) It's 3:30 am on July 20th, and I'm on a bus between Kampala, Uganda and Nairobi, Kenya, setting off on a fun trip around East Africa before returning home to my beloved United States.

I'm tremendously excited to reunite with friends and family as well as settle back in our home state of North Carolina, but as I bump along the Kenyan countryside under the night sky, I'm troubled by expectations of the political rancor I'll step back into, not only in the halls of Congress but in our public squares across America.

Why on Earth am I dwelling on politics at a time like this? My time may be better spent sleeping like my sensible wife whose head keeps falling into my shoulder as I hunt-and-peck away on the iPad. But alas politics is a passion of mine, even in Africa. I spent the last five years working in Washington, DC with some spectacular people who have dedicated their lives to politics, fighting for what they believe in. God bless them. Oh that we all could find vocation in a cause bigger than ourselves which gives our work meaning and purpose.

Indeed I'm a big fan of politics. At its best, I think it's critical, impactful, healthy and fun. Heck I've dedicated a blog to political commentary since 2008 and enjoyed sharing my musings with all of you. As folks know, I'm a Christian, Conservative and Republican, in that order, but all three of those families of mine have disappointed and embarrassed me from time to time.

Too many of my Christian brothers and sisters have gotten in the habit of spewing judgment and condemnation at those with whom they disagree. There's only one problem with this: it's wrong. Terribly, grossly, hypocritically wrong. I could cite umpteen beautiful verses from the Bible to support this point, but the Greatest Commandment seems like a solid choice. "Love your neighbor as yourself." How many times have you looked at a Christian speaking on a political or cultural issue and said “gee that person is filled with love for his fellow man”? Not often, and that's a shame. I'm as sinful and misguided as anybody, but I can read a Greatest Commandment when I see one. The Bible says to remove the plank from your own eye before going off on the speck in someone else's. God help the one of us who forgets that we are all sinners and fall short of the glory of God and decides to hop on our self-righteous soapbox condemning those who are not like us in mind or behavior as if we have standing to judge. We don't.

In the words of our President, "let me be clear." There is right and wrong in this world. I believe there is absolute truth. I personally have strong moral convictions on a host of issues and believe Christians and non-Christians alike should take their convictions into the voting booth without reproach. We call that democracy. What we should not and cannot do if we hope for a healthy prosperous nation is demagogue our American brothers and sisters because they happen to see the world differently, suggesting that not only their opinion but they themselves are less. Such behavior is immature, anti-social and un-American. For Christians you can add hypocritical and destructive to their witness of God's love in Christ.

As for Conservatives and Republicans, vitriol aimed at the other side is both unproductive and self defeating. Politics is not, and never will be, the central battleground between good and evil. If it is then we're all running around thinking we're good while half of our countrymen declare we're evil. Perhaps a little perspective is in order. There are black and white issues, principled issues worth fighting tooth and nail for unyieldingly, but these are the exception not the rule. There is an awful lot of grey area in public policy ripe for negotiation and compro$@!&. (Don't want to offend Washington with profanity. Gotta remember there are kids up there.)

I can hear the retorts and dismissals now. I'm naive. I'm young and idealistic. I'm for appeasement, gasp. As hurtful as those charges are, allow me to brush them off and take a peek at how hyper-polarization is working for us. We're living under the most unproductive and ineffectual Congress in the history of this land with historic sewage level approval ratings to show for it. Enough said.

Today the parties behave like every issue before them is an existential threat and their last stand. This is silly to say the least. The discourse we hear out of Washington is often trivial and pathetic. Our representatives maintain a constant posture of combativeness and defensiveness, often without a shred of camaraderie or good faith. Elections are a competition; legislating should be a more collective and bipartisan effort toward action on behalf of an American people who expect sensible and productive representation. Of course our Liberal and Democratic counterparts are guilty as well but today I'm keeping the tough love in the family.

The United States deserves better... or do we? Unfortunately, rather than looking at our dysfunctional political governing system with the scorn and incredulity that it deserves, many of us dive into the cesspool head first and carry the torch of division and demagoguery to Main Street. We've successfully, and sadly, created a country of warring factions, ever at odds with one another. These pointless and damaging fissures slice along religious, ideological, partisan, racial, gender, sexual orientation, ethnic, educational and socioeconomic lines. If there's a way to slice and dice, we've done it. These many factions are ripping America apart the seams, that country that still considers itself ONE NATION under God. We are disgracing the precious ideals of unity and respect for all. When it takes foreign terrorists slaughtering thousands of our mothers, sons and neighbors to bring us together, something is horribly wrong.

Now, for my humble prescription. Listen. That's it, listen. I borrowed the idea from God 'cuz he's smarter than I am. "Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak” -James 1:19.

I'm horrible at this in general because I love to run my mouth (or keyboard, how long is this post now?). But on contentious political and cultural issues, I've always enjoyed and felt a moral responsibility to gain an understanding of the other side's position, rationale and relevant passions. What good is it, indeed what validity has it, to hold fiercely to a position that you've not bothered to weigh or pressure test against disparate perspectives. I find it much more rewarding and fruitful to engage in thoughtful, honest and sober conversations with those who see things differently than I do engaging in a mutual reinforcement party with my friends of like mind. We call that pervasive practice confirmation bias, just think FoxNews, MSNBC and most political websites. Technology has allowed such complete fracturing of the media and information pipeline that most Americans are hearing exactly what they want to hear from people just like them without ever having their ideas questioned or challenged. Not only do we have our own opinions; now we have our own facts. This is dangerous. Confirmation bias has started wars and is today deepening battle lines across America.

What if we turned off our favored news source (after considering why it's our favorite), sat down with someone of a different, fresh perspective, cooled the decimals on overly contentious issues and listened. What if both just sat there humbly and respectfully listening, leaving as much bias and prejudice as humanly possible at the door. Just imagine. Then imagine if your new good practice was adopted on park benches across America, in school cafeterias and yes, even in the halls of Congress. Now that would be a revolution. Many of us would of course still hold different, even competing, views but now we'd be in a position to get beyond slander and look for common ground, each with a newfound appreciation and respect for the other side. Sounds nice doesn't it? Too good to be true? Maybe, but something has to give, and I believe it's possible.

I've had the pleasure of experiencing first-hand the power of lowered voices and humility in facilitating rich discussion on highly impassioned issues over the last several weeks. These included gay marriage in light of the SCOTUS ruling and the Trayvon Martin case. It would be difficult to name more heated issues than these two, and the raging cacophony that is Facebook proves illustrative of that fact. Yet, I was able to channel the heat into an actual dialogue which edified and enriched all involved.

It's too easy for all of us to step up on our high horse and rant until the cows come home, sometimes it's even fun, but it's destructive, and one by one we need to change. We need to stop being defined by what we don't like. Cynicism stinks. It is healthy for no one, certainly not for what has been and should remain the greatest nation on earth, a beacon of hope and example for the world to follow.

Over the past few months, I've lived in a place light years behind and less privileged than America. I've seen people dying of hunger. That is a deeply sobering experience and one that can rock your perspective and reorder your priorities. Life is too short and this world has too many serious challenges for us to remain myopic and self absorbed. Get over it. Open your eyes. Listen.

May we all learn to stop and listen. Our nation depends on it.

The sun is now rising over Nairobi. I'm finally going to sleep.

5 Electoral Maps You Should Know

This is the anchor lap, the final days of one of the most anticipated and potentially close presidential elections in American history.  As the race comes down to the wire and we anxiously await next Tuesday, it's valuable to have a clear framework in mind for how each man can plausibly win, charting a path to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.  As we were all reminded in 2000, while the winner is historically highly correlated to the results of the nationwide popular vote, the presidency is not directly determined by our individual votes but by the Electoral College.  It therefore becomes increasingly important to focus on battleground or tipping point states rather than national polls to discern the trajectory and outcome of the contest.  Indeed there is about a 5% chance that we'll see 2000 in reverse with Romney winning the popular vote, which he leads according to national polls, but losing the Electoral College and with it the presidency as his polling lags in key states such as Ohio.

I've documented the five potential electoral maps that I'm keeping in mind down the home stretch using the terrific 270toWin iPad app and thought I'd share them with you.  A fairly simple distillation of the most likely ways Mitt Romney or Barack Obama will find their way to a victory speech on November 6th (we hope).

Romney Scenario 1: Core 4 +1
Romney takes back the two preeminent battlegrounds of Ohio & Florida as well as the two historic red states of North Carolina & Virginia plus any other single contested state.  In this map, I've made that state Colorado, as that's Romney's most likely +1.  Note: All of these scenarios assume Indiana flips back to red this year as it is undisputed and has a 99.7% chance of going Romney as well as Romney winning all of Nebraska's 5 electors, one of which Obama claimed in 2008.

Romney Scenario 2: Sans Ohio Straight Tie-Win
Ohio, Ohio, Ohio.  Ohio is the seminal state for both campaigns and has a better chance of deciding the election than all other battlegrounds combined.  Romney's electoral calculus gets much more difficult if he fails to win the Buckeye State but not impossible.  This map lays out the sans Ohio scenario of Romney winning by essentially running a straight through all other battlegrounds.  Note however, that he can leave New Hampshire to Obama and still achieve a 269-269 electoral college tie settled in the Republican House of Representatives.  But in reality, New Hampshire should fall to Romney before Nevada, so that outcome is unlikely.  In fact Nate Silver calculates the chance of a tie at 0.3%.

Romney Scenario 3: Wisco Rescue + CO & NH
A win in veep candidate Paul Ryan's home state of Wisconsin (which hasn't gone Republican since 1984 despite being extremely close in '00 & '04) would help compensate for an Ohio loss and give Romney considerably more breathing room in finding a way to the White House even without the Buckeyes.  One such path includes Colorado & New Hampshire.

Romney Scenario 4: Wisco Rescue + CO & IA
Another such path by which Romney could compensate for an Ohio loss with Wisconsin is by adding Colorado and Iowa to the Cheesehead State.

Obama Scenario: WI, OH, NV
The President's path to a second term is considerably simpler in that he need only hold Wisconsin, win the big Ohio prize and take one other non-New Hampshire battleground, most likely Nevada.  Winning only NH in addition to WI & OH while ceding all other major battlegrounds to Romney would leave Obama with a 269-269 tie and a loss at the hands of his friends in the GOP House.

Of course there are countless more electoral map permutations, but given the state of the race in the final stretch, these five will get you a long way towards framing and projecting the paths to 270.  Either candidate could also cross the bar with one of these minimalist scenarios and keep rolling, racking up more than necessary to assume the presidency, but all we care about is who gets to a majority of the 538 electoral votes and how he does it.

Keeping these five maps in mind, I highly recommend following Nate Silver's indispensable daily analysis and probabilities on FiveThirtyEight, the RealClearPolitics aggregation of state and national polls and the prediction markets.  Also, cast your vote on the Pearce Godwin Blog for who you think will come out on top.

Here's to a clean and clear outcome in 9 days time and a rejuvenation of the American spirit and economy over the coming years.  As has become a pre-election tradition on this blog, enjoy one of the coolest creative efforts I've ever seen below.  Please, get out and vote, however you like.