ϻӮ

 

 (?)
Quotes are added by the ϻӮ community and are not verified by ϻӮ.
Michael  Austin

“Small acts of persuasion matter, because there is much less distance between people's beliefs than we often suppose. We easily confuse the distance between people's political positions with the intensity of their convictions about them. It is entirely possible for people to become sharply divided, even hostile, , over relatively minor disagreements. Americans have fought epic political battles over things like baking wedding cakes and kneeling during the national anthem. And we once fought a shooting war over a whiskey tax of ten cents per gallon. The ferocity of these battles has nothing to do with the actual distance between different positions, which, when compared to the entire range of opinions possible in the world, is almost negligible.

None of this means that we can persuade our opponents easily. Persuading people to change their minds is excruciatingly difficult. It doesn't always work, and it rarely works the way we think it will. But it does work, and the fact that it works makes it possible for us to have a democracy.”

Michael Austin, We Must Not Be Enemies: Restoring America's Civic Tradition
Read more quotes from Michael Austin


Share this quote:

Friends Who Liked This Quote

To see what your friends thought of this quote, please sign up!


This Quote Is From


Browse By Tag