America’s Transpartisan Future

Image Gallery image by Adam Niklewicz / www.illustratorusa.com

The following is part of a series of articles on reimagining politics beyond the pundits. For more, read Post-Pundit America , Liberals Aren’t Un-American. Conservatives Aren’t Ignorant. , and Not Everyone Is Out to Get You .

Michael Ostrolenk, a licensed psychotherapist and unabashed “center-right” conservative, is not shy about critically evaluating the Bush administration, which he believes left America “with a mess,” or President Obama, who he fears is “too much like Bush,” especially when it comes to foreign policy and civil rights issues. He’s also an artful conversationalist: impeccably civil, intellectually rigorous, and refreshingly forthright.

Trading strong opinions with him, one begins to believe that it might be possible for people on all points of the political spectrum to find common ground, or at least learn to cross partisan lines without feeling the need to flash party colors.

Ostrolenk is the cofounder and national director of the Liberty Coalition, an ideologically diverse group working to protect privacy and human autonomy, and the president of the Transpartisan Center, which hosts facilitated dialogues in an attempt to turn “nonaligned” leaders into partners for change.

Transpartisanship, billed as a more pragmatic goal than nonpartisanship, is a relatively new school of political thought. Participants in the movement, like Ostrolenk, abhor shallow shouting matches and sound bites, preferring instead to encourage conflict resolution. Utne Reader sat down with Ostrolenk to talk about turning conflict into an intellectual resource.

The organizations you’re involved with consistently define themselves as “transpartisan.” What does that mean?

The “trans” means to go through and beyond. That’s not to suggest people will abandon their partisan worldviews—even if they can or want to—but that they’re willing to recognize that people legitimately have different worldviews, and that there might be a way to make these worldviews fit together to create forward motion. And even if that doesn’t happen—if there’s still some conflict—the fact that you’re willing to come together and have a conversation might allow for some common ground down the road. It humanizes the political process, making it less about character attacks and more of a discussion around issues. Transpartisanship is not about avoiding conflict, it’s about using conflict to promote new ways of thinking.