The Gray Area | An opportunity for dialogue

I’ve always been a Republican and a conservative, and I’m not afraid to say so or talk about my beliefs. I serve as the treasurer of the College Republicans. But I’m one of those people who believes in the power of political discourse in the marketplace of ideas.

In my experience, I have found that it is difficult to build a strong and diversified political dialogue at Penn.

On one occasion last year, the College Republicans and Penn Democrats had dinner together. The problem was that when we sat down to eat, 30 or so Democrats sat on one side of the room while the five Republicans sat on the other side. We weren’t talking or getting to know each other at all. We were staying in our ideological comfort zones.

But tonight, we as a University have a rare opportunity to turn this trend around. Sparked by the tragedy of Rep. Gabriel Gifford’s (D-Ariz.) shooting, the country has begun a conversation about how we will move forward with our political dialogue.

Although the initial attempt by some to blame Republicans for the shooting is heinous and troubling in its own right, this is a time for us to have a discussion about how we should be moving forward with political debates. This is not a time to point fingers.

The State of the Union address is a particularly interesting opportunity. Traditionally, members of both parties sit on opposite sides of the House Chamber. This year, many members will be sitting with a partner from the opposing party.

That larger effort has trickled down to the University level, where the Penn Dems, College Republicans and the Fox Leadership Program have teamed up to put together a joint State of the Union watch party.

The event will be structured in a way to foster political debate. We will be sitting together and the speech will be followed by a (hopefully) constructive discussion.

“Opening the event to the entire Penn community will allow the two groups to recruit new members and — more importantly — to engage with each other and with students who might fall at any point on the ideological spectrum,” said Sonya Sackner-Bernstein, a College junior and member of Penn Dems who initially organized the event after working for a new non-partisan group called No Labels. “That might ease some of the tensions between the two groups that may have existed in the past.”

Tomorrow’s event will be one of over 300 No Labels State of the Union watch parties occurring across America.

At the start of winter break, I got a reminder about how powerful these sorts of political dialogues can be.

I was taking two cramped, three-hour flights to head back to visit my family. When the person next to me sat down, I figured that we should at least talk during the trip. So I took a risk and asked him, “What do you think of the direction of the country?”

I soon learned that I was sitting next to a very liberal individual. Although we disagreed on just about everything, we came to one single conclusion — the current fiscal path of our country is unsustainable. There wasn’t a single silent moment for three hours, but we were able to keep our voices level and our emotions calm.

Tonight, I will probably not be clapping during a great deal of President Barack Obama’s speech. I just don’t agree with most of his policies. But I will probably be sitting next to someone who is clapping in Huntsman Hall Room 245, and I will be able to have a real debate about those policies afterward. If we can continue this dialogue on a larger scale, it would represent a major step forward in the way we discuss politics at this University.

Charles Gray is a Wharton and College junior. He is a member of the Student Committee on Undergraduate Education. His e-mail address is gray@theDP.com. The Gray Area appears every Tuesday.

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