Jordan Blashek, Chris Haugh. Two Friends: One Democrat, the Other Republican Search for Common Ground

Let's Find Common Ground

USC Dornsife Center for the Political Future

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5.0 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 13 August 2020

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

How far apart are we as a nation? A liberal writer from Berkeley and a conservative military veteran decided to answer that question together during a series of long road trips in an old Volvo. They drove through 44 states and on nearly twenty thousand miles of road and highways, meeting an extraordinary range of people along the way. At a time of political gridlock and hyper-partisanship, Republican Jordan Blashek, and Democrat Chris Haugh formed an unlikely friendship that blossomed not in spite of but because of their political differences. The result of their road trips is the new book, “Union: A Democrat, A Republican, and a Search for Common Ground.” In this podcast episode, we discover what they learned about the American politics, culture, civics, and the condition of our democracy. “Our honest takeaway is that we’re not as far apart as imagined,” Chris tells us. “Underneath a patina of difference and division, there is a common language.”

Transcript

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0:00.0	Two young men, one liberal, one conservative, jumped in a Volvo and drove across America
0:07.1	several times along nearly 20,000 miles of roads and highways, an ex-marine and businessman and his family. and Berkeley, California. What did they discover about dealing with their own differences and our divided
0:26.4	nation?
0:27.0	This is Let's Find Common Ground. I'm Ashley Milntight. And I'm Richard Davies.
0:38.0	Chris Haar and Jordan Blacheck are our guests. They first set out in 2016 and then several more times in the
0:44.8	next three years to get a better understanding of America and themselves. Their
0:50.2	new book is called Union, a Democrat, a Republican, and a search for common ground.
0:55.6	It's a great story, so let's get started.
0:58.6	First with Chris, the liberal in this duo.
1:02.4	We went on six road trips across nearly 20,000 miles, 44 states. We talked to countless
1:09.2	people hailing from all sorts of different backgrounds.
1:12.6	And our honest takeaway was that we are not as far apart
1:15.5	as you'd imagine.
1:16.3	In fact, we're quite close together.
1:18.2	There are serious and real divisions in this country,
1:21.2	but the way we articulate our desires, the way we articulate what is good
1:24.8	about this country, the values that underwrite all of our expressions of political aspiration
1:31.2	or future planning are the same they really are and we found that over and over again whether it was in
1:38.6	Tulsa or Detroit or New York City or California
1:49.4	I think ultimately underneath a sort of patina of difference in division, there is a common language and we really felt that. Jordan, you're the conservative, Chris is the liberal.
1:56.0	Do you see it the same way?
1:58.0	Because boy, in our media, it's, we're incredibly divided as a country.
	...

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