Joe Lieberman tried to heal our nation’s wounds by doing something politicians rarely do
Unity is a rare thing in politics. The late Democrat Sen. Joe Lieberman often reached across the aisle to Republicans and embraced bipartisanship as an essential part of his life.
The legacy of Democrat Senator Joe Lieberman will be honored in Washington on July 24, where those of us who knew and loved him will celebrate his life, even as we mourn his loss.
We are mourning, too, what has been lost in the realm of politics in recent years, with a polity defined more by polarization than progress. Lieberman embodied the antithesis – always embracing an ethos of bipartisanship. Having known him since 1980, I witnessed firsthand how vigorously he sought common ground and contributed to the commonweal.
Collaboration requires compatriots, and there were plenty to be found in those years gone by. First as state attorney general, then in the Senate, Lieberman routinely worked with Republicans on issues as diverse as the environment, school choice, national security, health care and the impact of entertainment on America’s youth.
The spiritual heirs of such bipartisanship can be found today in groups like the Problem Solvers Caucus and No Labels. Unfortunately, they are the exception, not the rule in a political landscape that for years has resembled the trench warfare of World War I. That "no man’s land" is precisely where Lieberman stood strong for the entirety of his career, as he built a rich legacy of accomplishment.
How did we fall so far? Harmony replaced by hostility; comity turned to conflict. I blame our descent in large part on the 21st century iteration of the cultural forces that Lieberman warned of three decades ago – namely, social media and its negative effect on our politics and on impressionable young people.
With the rise of the social platforms, a Pandora’s Box has been opened, which no "community standards," oversight boards or filtering tools can close. Algorithms encourage people to stay in stifling silos, and reward extremism, not moderation. The advent of artificial intelligence threatens to supercharge these ominous trends. As Pope Francis warned, "in an obsessive desire to control everything, we risk losing control over ourselves."
Compounding the problem (and contributing to it), while social media has defiled the public square and degraded how we relate to one another, much of humanity has lost faith in institutions, and one of the most disturbing declines is the loss of faith itself.
Lieberman agreed. In January of last year, he told me he planned to write a book "to show how the belief in God … should lead us (particularly those who are in elective office) to behave differently in our governmental and political lives than we are now."
After he passed away in March, his son Matt let me know his father finished the book, and "Faith’s Answers to America’s Political Crisis" will be published by Post Hill Press on October 1st.
This is a topic Joe Lieberman and I spoke of often, as we shared a deep connection to our respective Jewish and Catholic faiths. We didn’t always agree on the policy implications of our views – I am a pro-life Democrat (an endangered species), and he voted pro-choice, though we did work together on issues like opposing the withholding of hydration and nutrition from seriously ill patients.
I traveled with Senator Lieberman on his first major campaign swing as Al Gore’s running mate in 2000, where he said at a church in Detroit, "as a people, we need to reaffirm our faith and renew the dedication of our nation and ourselves to God and God’s purpose."
It is hard to find many political leaders echoing such sentiments these days. And it is even harder to find examples of faith in our culture. How often do characters in crisis in films or on television turn to God, utter a prayer or seek spiritual solace in a house of worship? How often does entertainment – and the larger society it reflects – seem to exist in a world where there is no God at all?
In spiritual contrast, Joe and Hadassah Lieberman and their family strictly observed the Sabbath, well described in his book, "The Gift of Rest." (I can’t tell you how many media appearances I had to regret for him due to his Sabbath observance.)
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Joe Lieberman’s final book will arrive in the final weeks of a contentious campaign for the presidency. In the wake of the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, both parties say they wish to lower the temperature of intemperate rhetoric. Big, if true, as they say on X.
Because ascribing the most hateful of motives to the other side builds walls, not bridges. And that is no way to run a country, no way to better the world and no way to lead a life. Lieberman knew that, and while he would vigorously defend his point of view, he never resorted to vitriol and always treated his opponents with respect.
"Maybe America needs another Religious Awakening, like those that have helped us through awful times in our history before," Lieberman wrote in his book proposal.
I agree, and if we fail to be awakened, are we bound to be "sinners in the hands of an angry God," as Jonathan Edwards preached at the start of the first Great Awakening in 1741? Are we "storing up wrath" for ourselves, as Saint Paul wrote to the Romans?
As bad as things seem, could they not get so much worse if we don’t chart a more faithful course? I fear God may witness the cynically secular belief that there is no divinity in the universe, no soul in our nature, no life after death ("Imagine there's no heaven") and no reason to pray, and He will say, as the Lord spoke to Moses, "My anger will flare up against them; I will forsake them and hide My face from them; they will become a prey to be devoured, and much evil and distress will befall them" (Deuteronomy 31:27-18). Indeed, a civilization devoid of God’s love would be Hell on Earth.
God forbid. And in the meantime, I pray that Joe Lieberman’s book will prove to be a transcendent October surprise, and like the balm in Gilead, speed the healing of all those political wounds that have been become so infected in this secular, algorithmic age.
