Review and Reflection of “Good Reasonable People” by Keith Payne. -

Keith Payne set out to better understand the people he loved, his family, whom he didn’t see eye to eye with when it came to politics. This is part of what makes “Good Reasonable People” unique among recent books about the divide in the United States. It wasn’t so much that he wanted to explore the divide, as it was that his quest to understand and love his family turned into a book project.

Right on the first page, Payne shows his humanity and humility — “I though the pandemic would help bring Americans closer together, the way that in the movies alien invaders cause all humankind to band together against a common enemy. But in this virus, we were facing the biggest alien threat of our lifetimes, and people were already making it a topic of partisan bickering and finger-pointing.” (pg. ix).

So much of this book is focused on what I consider to be the key to dealing with our divisions — being able to see the humanity in others. So much of our society is most concerned with which team you identify with, which has Payne points out — “There is a simplicity to it…There’s a certainty about right and wrong that comes from feeling you have God on your side.” (Pg. xiii).

Yes, this is what I have also been talking about. Our addiction to being right causes us to be blinded to the humanity of the other right in front of us. When we are focused on who is right and who is wrong, we can’t see the humanity of others or ourselves. We get caught up in an…