THE LETTER SENT
Dear Sen Klobuchar
There was an article on Salon last week by Griffin Eckstein, about how you called for compromise with our new administration. Eckstein’s headline was “... there is no common ground with fascists” (1), commenting on an interview in the New York Times where you said “… Americans want us to work together when we can and find common ground”.
I agree with Eckstein. There is no common ground with fascists. Their set of values are not yours, nor mine. For them working together means they get what they want and, if they want what you want, you get what you want; such a young conversation, one from around 3-4 years of age, where the child says, in effect, what is mine is mine, and what is yours, is mine.
Children and many of this administration live that way. They live in a world where they get to say how it’s done; they get to make the laws even if they damage themselves; they live in a world of shame and blame; a world of short-term gains; a zero-sum world. This is the world of distributive negotiation (2), where you, me, my family, my community, my country are the losers.
You, I know, want to live in a place where people collaborate for the greater good. You want to build goodwill and trust; want everyone to get something of what they want or need; You want people to be listened too and heard. That is integrative negotiation.
Think of it like King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table (3), a 12th century tale about a king and his cohorts discussing policy sitting at a round table; round so no one person has ascendancy over another. According to the stories the group included not only King Arthur and his best friends, but many of his enemies and some minor nobles, all having equal say.
However, the head of this current administration and his un-elected financiers, and many of his supporters believe in distributive negotiation, a competition where the emphasis is on limits, on scarcity. This administration goes even further. They want loyalty and will punish those who they perceive are not. They say we should be loyal to the person heading our government, rather like bowing down before a king, a King John who, because of his treatment of his subjects had to sign the Magna Carta, a king who lost land on the other side of the channel for the same reason (4).
As an immigrant, coming from England, and now an American citizen, the idea of bowing down before this human being called a king is something I thought I’d left behind.
You cannot find common ground with kings. You cannot find common ground with those who worship him. You cannot gainsay the divine right of kings. You cannot say the emperor has no clothes (5). when they insist he’s covered in robes of glory.
Please don’t try.
1 https://www.salon.com/2025/02/01/there-is-no-common-ground-with-fascists-progressives-rip-klobuchars-call-for-bipartisanship
2 https://www.pon.harvard.edu/daily/negotiation-skills-daily/negotiation-skills-expanding-the-pie-integrative-bargaining-versus-distributive-bargaining
3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_of_the_Round_Table
4 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John%2C_King_of_England
5 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Emperor's_New_Clothes
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