To the editor:

With the election season coming up it is important to talk about pragmatic approaches to the issues we face in this country.

It seems conservatives and liberals today are not trying to find solutions as much as trying to force their view on one another, without working to understand each other’s point of view. Ideology can sometimes get in the way of reasoned political discussion.

No one’s ideology is identical, and by adhering strictly to an ideology without reasonable thought to the problem at hand we are limiting our pool of solutions from which to draw. If there is a solution to a problem it should be seriously considered, if only to rule it out as a solution.

Pragmatic solutions are always more applicable than ideological ones because they have the ability to gain common middle ground.

We will never agree about ideology, but we can agree to find solutions to problems that can be acceptable to most. Problems can be solved. Don’t let a politician or a media outlet convince you otherwise.

I believe that simple solutions exist to most of the issues we face socially if only we would put the time in to think of them pragmatically instead of listening blindly to a political party or a talking point shouted ad nauseam at us on the news or in our echo-chamber Internet forums.

Polishing pebbles, focusing on relatively insignificant issues in lieu of solving bigger problems as a way to divert attention away from more important issues to pander to a political base, is the way that election campaigns are run, and won.

One reason we fall for this is because we as a country refuse to think outside of our echo-chambers, each of us under the false assumption that we alone know how it ought to be.

The truth is that each of us has very different and limited experiences of what our lives are like, and without stopping to consider what another’s experience of life has been, we will never be able to cohesively solve the social problems that we face. My hope is that we as a country learn to flesh out our issues with each other without vitriol and with empathy, rather than simply shouting our opponents down.

There are important issues that we will never solve if all we do is vilify each other over insignificant differences.

Kaleb Elijah Herndon

Seymour