Two Friends— a Democrat and a Republican— Search Together for Common Ground. Jordan Blashek, Chris Haugh

Let's Find Common Ground

USC Dornsife Center for the Political Future

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5 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 3 August 2023

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Are Americans really as divided as we think we are? One liberal and one conservative jumped in an old Volvo and drove along nearly 20,000 miles of roads and highways in a series of journeys to find the answer. They went through 44 states and met 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 remarkable road trips is their book Union: A Democrat, A Republican and a Search for Common Ground." In this podcast episode, we hear a mixture of wisdom and humor and discover what Chris and Jordan learned about American politics, culture, civics, and our potential to find common ground.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This week we're bringing you a show we first released when Let's Find Common Ground was
0:04.9	pretty new in 2020.
0:07.8	Yeah, we loved this episode with two young guys with different political views who
0:12.3	traveled the US together by car and lived to tell the tale.
0:17.1	Here's the show. Two young men, one liberal,
0:20.9	one conservative, jumped in a Volvo and drove across America several times
0:26.6	along nearly 20,000 miles of roads and highways,
0:30.4	an ex-marine and businessman and his friend, a writer and former intern
0:36.2	at the Obama White House from Berkeley, California.
0:39.7	What did they discover about dealing with their own differences
0:43.4	and our divided nation?
0:51.4	This is Let's Find Common Ground. I'm Ashley Melntite.
0:55.2	And I'm Richard Davies. Chris Haar and Jordan Blashek are our guests.
0:59.6	They first set out in 2016 and then several more times in the next three years
1:04.2	to get a better understanding of America and themselves.
1:08.2	Their new book is called Union, a Democrat, a Republican and a search for common ground.
1:13.9	It's a great story, so let's get started. First with Chris, the liberal in this duo.
1:20.7	We went on six road trips across nearly 20,000 miles, 44 states.
1:26.0	We talked to countless people hailing from all sorts of different backgrounds.
1:30.7	And our honest takeaway was that we are not as far apart as you'd imagine.
1:34.4	In fact, we're quite close together.
1:36.3	There are serious and real divisions in this country,
	...

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