Many of the current debates raging in the news, on the blogosphere, and yes, on Facebook, have left me, and no doubt many of you, struggling to comprehend how large swaths of the American public can defend certain seemingly indefensible positions.  In alternatingly puzzling and maddening proclamations, the right seems to top themselves with each callous and alarming contention:

“What’s needed is more guns to solve our gun violence epidemic.”

“Guns don’t kill people; people kill people.”

“We should only accept Christian Syrian refugees.”

“We need a national registry of all Muslims.”

It’s as if these people are intentionally suggesting the most inane possible options to test our patience and try our sanity.  In the face of this large-scale ignorance, it’s tempting to throw your hands in the air and give up.  I’ve heard many people say that that they don’t even bother to engage in certain debates—gun control, the refugee question, religious tolerance, global warming—because it’s impossible to change people’s minds.  I would suggest that it is in this same seemingly Sisyphean pursuit of progress that we eventually chip away at the illogical, unfounded, and empty claims of the reactionary elements of our polity.

The fact of the matter is that attitudes and beliefs do change over time.  They just generally do so at a glacial pace.  The debate over gay marriage notwithstanding, it usually takes at least a generation for truly profound sea changes of perception and opinion to take root.  Wholesale shifts in public consciousness take time for people to evolve and adapt their worldview.  The implementation and acceptance of the desegregation of schools took decades, even after Brown vs. Board established it as the law of the land (and you could argue that it still exists in some places).  Convincing people that cigarettes were bad for them also took decades—perhaps the tobacco industry’s greatest achievement.  Getting smoking out of public places and turning Americans into least cigarette-friendly people on the planet was the result of the combined effects of science, marketing, and (most effectively) public shaming.  Convincing people that we need to rethink our relationship with guns, refugees, and Islam will be equally as difficult and possibly take equally as long.  But it will be effective if we keep pushing and stay on message.

On the gun issue, it does seem like change is at long last possible and that the policy action is no longer a non-starter.  Democrats (including Obama for his first five years in office) often cringed in fear when the NRA would blow into town with their money, their bluster, and their bravado.  The fact that the leading Democrats were brandishing their poor grades from the NRA as badges of honor during the first presidential debate was incredibly encouraging.  Certain vanguard states, California foremost among them, have led the way with pioneering legislation that represents a good start.  It was all the more tragic that the San Bernardino shootings happened in the state with the most stringent, progressive, and intelligent gun control laws.  The gun lobby will point to this as evidence that gun control doesn’t work.  But we know better.  Only truly national, sensible gun control laws will make our entire country safer.  When you can buy an assault rifle in Nevada and transport it across state lines, Californians will not be truly safe.  When would-be terrorists, the mentally unstable, or those with a history of violence can easily get their hands on guns, these events will continue to be all-too-common.  Thankfully, enough of us are coming around on this issue to begin to make progress.  We may not have an Australian-style epiphany and require a buy-back of all our hand guns and assault rifles anytime soon, but more intelligent, practical policy solutions are in the cards and on the way.

Turning our attention to the refugee crisis, this issue strikes at the core of who were are as a nation.  America is now, has always been, and will continue to be an immigrant country.  Many of these immigrants, my great grandparents (and even the founders of this country) included, were fleeing religious persecution—they left Russia in 1909-10 fleeing the pogroms and the religious persecution of Jews that was commonplace throughout Eastern Europe at the time.  Just as the Syrian, Iraqi, Afghani, and other refugees are fleeing religious persecution today.  They are fleeing ISIS’ brand of religion and rejecting it.  Or the Taliban’s.  Or some other narrow-minded religious sect.  This country was founded upon the ideal of a haven.  We haven’t always lived up to these lofty ideals.  We persecuted heretics in the 18th century (to say nothing of the slaves brought illegally to our shores); in the 19th century it was the turn of the Italians and the Irish; in the 20th century Latinos; and in the 21st century, in the wake of 9/11 and the ill-conceived War on Terror, Muslims.  Each subsequent new immigrant group received much the same shabby treatment by “rightful or natural” American citizens.  But each time we’ve recognized the error of our ways and incorporated these groups into our body politic and our definition of what it means to be American.  Boston revels in its Irish identity, as New York does in its Italian roots, and now California and Texas with their Mexican/Latino traditions.[1]  The broad truth, seen over time, is that our identity has always been fluid and will remain so.  The beauty of America, I’ve often said, is that the only thing it takes to be American is the desire to want to be American (along with the opportunity to do so).  The same cannot be said of France.  Or Germany.  Or most other countries.  Which is why we should protect this unique legacy.  If you’re reading this blog, I probably don’t have to convince you.  So let’s keep trying to convince everyone else.  We have the moral high ground.  It’ll be frustrating, but we’re on the right side of history, and we know it.  Eventually, we’ll win because our argument and our vision are better.

Those clamoring for a national registration of Muslims have a terrible historical memory, in addition to a distorted view of inalienable rights and social justice.  We registered all Japanese-Americans during World War II, right before we illegally interned them in camps and deliberately removed them from the west coast.  Internment remains one of the most shameful episodes in our nation’s history.  Would we learn from this?  Only if those who are proposing this are self-aware and able to draw historical parallels.  We should continue to embrace the Muslim community and Muslim culture.  So far, we’ve done a pretty good job.  Much better, in fact, than our counterparts in Europe.  It’s why we have so many fewer episodes of homegrown Muslim violence.  Because they see that they are part of our society and not on the outside looking in.  It’s harder to radicalize people who feel that they have a part and a stake in the society.  Despite our track record of successful assimilation, many European countries have accepted tens or even hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees while we accepted exactly 186 this year and approximately 2,200 since 2011.[2]  We can and should do better.  It’s who we are.  It’s who we want to be.

Holding down the political moral high ground certainly feels better intrinsically but often leaves us with a bewildered sense of how the opposition justifies their stances and beliefs.  Probably with a similar defense based on their perception of morality and right, I’m guessing.  But if you err on the side of compassion, of tolerance, of logic and reason, and of an expansive world view that encompasses rather than eschews, you’re headed in the right direction.  America was conceived as a country that brought in undesirables and underdogs and turned other countries’ rejects into its greatest strength.  The idea was that opportunity, in a rational and sensible policy environment, made all the difference.  It has.  And we should try to keep it that way.  But that requires engaging in the debate and continuing to fight the maddeningly, frustratingly slow fight to change hearts, minds, and history.  It’s not a short struggle, but nothing worth achieving ever was.

[1] We’re still the only nation in the world to be outnumbered by our chief rival’s fan base at home soccer games.  But I saw tons of Mexican-Americans sporting USA jerseys at the Rose Bowl in October.  Like I said, it takes a generation to see the light ;).

[2] http://www.wrapsnet.org/Reports/AdmissionsArrivals/tabid/211/Default.aspx