I don't live in Mayberry; we don't all sit around the barber shop smiling at
each other. However, we do speak to each other in a civil manner, we listen
to each other, and sometimes, we even LIKE people with whom we disagree. An
example: I am in the process of running for the local village board. One of
my political opponents--a person who holds views which are the polar
opposite of my own--circulated my nomination petitions for me because I was
busy finishing up my thesis and was a bit too crunched for time to do it
myself. This probably makes no sense to a Washington kick boxer but it is
really a nice, peaceful, sustainable model for disagreement--maybe "a gift
of compromise," as Ann Clark put it so eloquently!
Thank you,
Paul Dietmann
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems
dietmann@students.wisc.edu