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Following Jesus in nonviolent struggle for justice and peace, we love our neighbors and enemies as God loves us all, becoming a peace church to share in Gods work to save the world.

Does Democracy Rest Substantially on Empathy?

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Does Democracy Rest Substantially on Empathy?

Matthew's commentary on racism and the right wing objections to the Sotomayer nomination went beneath the surface. It helped me to understand what is going on. A day or so after I read Dr. Johnson on this my brother sent me an article on the subject by George Lakoff. I share an excerpt from it here. You can follow the link to the full article. To me "empathy" sounds a lot like "love" or "compassion," on the lips of Jesus.

   "Empathy is at the heart of progressive thought. It is the capacity to put oneself in the shoes of others - not just individuals, but whole categories of people: one's countrymen, those in other countries, other living beings, especially those who are in some way oppressed, threatened, or harmed. Empathy is the capacity to care, to feel what others feel, to understand what others are facing and what their lives are like. Empathy extends well beyond feeling to understanding, and it extends beyond individuals to groups, communities, peoples, even species. Empathy is at the heart of real rationality, because it goes to the heart of our values, which are the basis of our sense of justice.

    "Progressives care about others as well as themselves. They have a moral obligation to act on their empathy - a social responsibility in addition to personal responsibility, a responsibility to make the world better by making themselves better. This leads to a view of a government that cares about its citizens and has a moral obligation to protect and empower them. Protection includes worker, consumer, and environmental protection as well as safety nets and health care. Empowerment includes what is in the president's stimulus plan: infrastructure, education, communication, energy, the availability of credit from banks, a stock market that works. No one can earn anything at all in this country without protection and empowerment by the government. All progressive legislation is made on this basis.

    "The president wrote of empathy in The Audacity of Hope, "It is at the heart of my moral code and it is how I understand the Golden Rule - not simply as a call to sympathy or charity, but as something more demanding, a call to stand in somebody else's shoes and see through their eyes."

    "President Obama has argued that empathy is the basis of our democracy. Why do we promote freedom and fairness for everyone, not just ourselves or the rich and powerful? The answer is empathy." ...   excerpt from the article "Empathy, Sotomayer, and Democracy: The Conservative Stealth Strategy" by George Lakoff http://www.truthout.org/053109A

John K. Stoner jstoner@ecapc.org

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