Think about your most strongly held political belief. How did you arrive at your position? What experiences, information, or opinions influenced you?
And have you ever – really – challenged your own thinking?
In the final installment of our summer podcast series on the state of political discourse today, we dive into an increasingly important skill: the ability to debate yourself.
Our host John Donvan sits down with Yale Law professor Peter Schuck to discuss his new book, One Nation Undecided: Clear Thinking About Five Hard Issues That Divide Us, which takes on five hot-button topics — poverty, immigration, campaign finance, affirmative action, and religion in public life — and shows us why there’s a legitimate case to be made for differing opinions.
Rather than glossing over the huge fault lines that exist in contemporary America, Schuck’s even-handed analysis offers a guide to questioning your own thinking and seeing value on the other side of any debate. “You have to realize how hard these issues are in the first place so that you should feel somewhat less certain in your views than you probably do,” he says.
Listen to that conversation now and then let us know: are you ready to change the way you think about hard issues?
