I think independence, the fundamental notion – I mean, Dr. King talked about that web of mutuality. That interesting, you know, I guess this is my Jesuit upbringing. It comes from the Bible where there are many parts, but one body, where when one suffers, we all suffer. I mean it’s a fundamental, a very human value. It’s a spiritual one, it’s also a secular one and I think a progressive one nonetheless.
Edwin: And how did you learn that?
Gavin: My years of being raised by nuns, and abused by nuns – in the nicest way of the term – meaning getting discipline.
Edwin: Was there a moment when you learned insight into interdependence with those nuns?
Gavin: Yeah, I mean I think in nuanced ways throughout my life, I think you learn that growing up and the impact that you have if kids are making fun of other kids, and the impact that has on the other child, and the impact that has on his friends and family. I think that’s something you just inherently learn, and of course, you get into elected office and you understand it more richly and more deeply.
Edwin: Can you remember moments when that happened?
Gavin: Oh, gosh, a lot of moments. As a witness to people being made fun of, including myself. Look, I’m a pretty severe dyslexic. I could barely read and write, and I remember sitting there in sixth grade in Mr. Moore’s class, and everyone laughed as I got up there and started reading out loud, and the impact that has. And people don’t realize that impact, that their decision and commentary has an impact on other people’s lives.
And I’m sure that I’ve neglected to be as sensitive to other people throughout my life. I think that’s an incredibly important value, to reflect and look at our decision-making, the impact of the way we interact with other people.
Even with people that we disagree with in the conservative movement politically, and the way we talk about them – “I hate that person”. Well, I don’t really know that person. I hate what they’re saying and what they’re doing politically, but there has got to be an understanding of the human element.
And so I think again, for the progressive movement to be everything it can be, for it to be the right movement, we need to be sensitive to that. We can be hard-headed and pragmatic. It doesn’t mean we’re weak. But to have empathy, and to extrapolate that empathy in the context of being tolerant, even to other people’s points of view. Not just their race, ethnicity or sexual orientation, whether they’re rich or poor, whether they live in this part of the country or that part of the world, etc. But also to their points of view. It’s incredibly important.Progressive Values Metaphor: Gavin Newsom - Noah's Ark
Edwin: And a metaphor for progressive values?
Gavin: I don’t know what the metaphor is. It’s certainly a little less quixotic. We are a little more chaotic. There’s still a lot of chaos within the progressive movement. But there is a little more order.
I think the challenge for the progressive movement is not to eat our young, so to speak, and implode internally from all our differences, but to learn lessons from the conservative movement. And I think the opportunity from us is also to learn from the history of Congress and the Republican President and not make the same mistakes in the next few years.
We cannot be arrogant. We’ve always got to maintain an openness and a willingness to reflect on where we are today in the context of new realities tomorrow.
And again, ideologies are important, but we’ve seen the ideological right destroy so many parts of this country and the fabric of what makes America important. Let us not make the mistake of the ideological left being as reticent to being openmindness.
So the challenge for the progressives is again, to learn from the mistakes of the conservatives and maintain and openness and a willingness to consider other points of view. Even conservative points of view when they’re right. And that is something that we haven’t seen in the conservative movement. They have been completely devoid of considerations of the progressive movements points of view.
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