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leaderboardTabletAd, leaderboardMobileAd ]; responsiveAd({ id: "leaderboard-ad", className: "constrain", highImpact: 'leaderboard', ads: leaderboardAds, reloadable: false, delay: 250 }); </script>  <div id="content-body" class="constrain"> <div class="primary-col"> <article id="article-30405" class="post-30405 post type-post status-publish hentry category-congress category-politics category-republicans category-u-s tag-cpac tag-don-young tag-empathy tag-reince-priebus tag-republicans-2 tag-rob-portman tag-wetback format-article has-thumbnail position-right"> <div class="spacer"></div> <header class="entry-header"> <div class="entry-context"> <h3 class="entry-category"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130407171034/http://ideas.time.com/category/politics/republicans/" title="View all posts in Republicans">Republicans</a></h3> </div> <h1 class="entry-title">Viewpoint: Only Empathy Can Transform the GOP</h1> <div class="entry-meta"> <span class="entry-byline">By <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130407171034/http://ideas.time.com/contributor/eric-liu/" title="Posts by Eric Liu" rel="author">Eric Liu</a></span><span class="entry-date">April 03, 2013</span><span class="entry-comments"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130407171034/http://ideas.time.com/2013/04/03/viewpoint-only-empathy-can-transform-the-gop/#comments"><span data-lf-article-id="30405" data-lf-site-id="314108" class="livefyre-commentcount">0</span></a></span> </div> </header> <div class="entry-sharing group"> <div class="ad-unit sm"> <script> responsiveAd({ id: "share-ad", ads: [{ type: 'desktop', size: '88x31', position: 8 }] }); </script>  </div> <ul class="entry-share-buttons"> <li> <a href="#">Share</a> <ul> <li class="share-fb" data-omniture-event="fb-like"> <div class="fb-like" data-send="false" data-href="http://ideas.time.com/2013/04/03/viewpoint-only-empathy-can-transform-the-gop/" data-layout="button_count" data-width="450" data-show-faces="false"></div> </li> <li 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class="entry-thumb-credit">Joe Raedle / Getty Images</small><p class="entry-thumb-caption">Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, speaks at the podium as he concedes the presidency during an election night event at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center on November 7, 2012 in Boston, Mass.</p></figcaption></figure> <aside class="post-rail"> <div class="post-rail-ad" data-set="sidebar-ad"></div> <div class="post-rail-content" data-set="post-rail"> <div class="moving-markup"> <div class="entry-tools group"> <ul class="share-tools content-actions group"> <li class="email ca-1"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130407171034/http://cgi.timeinc.net/cgi-bin/mail/mailurl2friend.cgi?path=/time/emailFriend&url=http%3A%2F%2Fideas.time.com%2F2013%2F04%2F03%2Fviewpoint-only-empathy-can-transform-the-gop%2F&group=time&title=Viewpoint%3A+Only+Empathy+Can+Transform+the+GOP" data-omniture-event="email" target="_blank"><span class="icon"></span>Email</a></li> <li class="print ca-2"><a 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href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130407171034/http://twitter.com/TIMEIdeas" target="_blank">@TIMEIdeas</a></p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </aside> <p>Twenty-one years ago, candidate <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130407171034/http://topics.time.com/bill-clinton/">Bill Clinton</a> told a nation hit hard by recession, “I <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130407171034/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ta_SFvgbrlY">feel</a> your pain.” He was greeted with bipartisan mockery. He was a panderer, they said, an unctuous fake. But the thing was, he <i>did</i> feel our pain. The American public knew it, and they filtered out all the other noise about the man.</p> <p>Today’s Republicans could learn from President Clinton. Ever since the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130407171034/http://topics.time.com/gop/">GOP</a>’s national defeat in November, party leaders have engaged in some unusually public self-examination. Some, like chair Reince <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130407171034/http://www.gop.com/news/chairmans-blog/rnc-chairman-reince-priebus-remarks-from-cpac/">Priebus</a>, have been admirably blunt, saying the GOP now is seen as “narrow-minded, out of touch,” and full of “stuffy old men.”</p> <p><strong>(MORE</strong>: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130407171034/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2139696,00.html">Rob Long: Go Ahead, Round up the RINO’s!</a>)</p> <p>But that kind of candor goes only so far. For every sincere admonition from a Priebus or a Jeb <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130407171034/http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/mar/16/cpac-2013-jeb-bush-calls-more-inclusive-republican/">Bush</a>, there’s a “wetback” gaffe from a Don <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130407171034/http://www.salon.com/2013/03/29/don_young_issues_second_slightly_better_apology_for_wetbacks_comment/">Young</a>: a stuffy old man who appears narrow-minded and out of touch. Most Republicans, it can be said, aren’t Neanderthals. But most Neanderthals, it often seems, are Republican.</p> <p>The lesson the GOP has drawn from the election is that it has to do a better job of <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130407171034/http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/18/politics/gop-minority-outreach">outreach</a> and positioning: meeting minority voters, explaining to them why they should vote Republican. GOP leaders, in short, think their problem is more with marketing than with product.</p> <p>They’re wrong. Although prominent Republicans <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130407171034/http://www.politico.com/story/2013/03/john-cornyn-slams-youngs-use-of-slur-89459.html">chastised</a> Young for sounding retrograde, the real problem he revealed was a profound lack of empathy. It hadn’t occurred to Young, or to his embarrassed colleagues, what it might be like to be a migrant worker, past or present – any more than it had occurred to Mitt Romney what life would be like among the 47 percent, the so-called “takers.” That ability to step into another’s shoes, to things from that person’s perspective, is critical to success in a democracy.</p> <p>The GOP’s newfound flexibility on immigration reform seems promising. But Republican leaders are pivoting for <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130407171034/http://www.nationaljournal.com/magazine/republicans-can-t-win-latinos-with-immigration-reform-20130314">pragmatic</a> reasons, not because they suddenly began to imagine life undocumented. When a prominent GOP leader does exercise empathy, the way Senator <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130407171034/http://topics.time.com/rob-portman/">Rob Portman</a> recently did when he <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130407171034/http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/DC-Decoder/2013/0325/Coming-out-How-Sen.-Rob-Portman-s-gay-son-charted-his-path">reckoned</a> with his son’s coming-out, party leaders respond awkwardly. “Everyone is entitled to their positions,” was majority leader Eric Cantor’s reaction (note the plural). “It sounds to me like a really personal thing in his life,” said Senator Jim Inhofe, “and I’d rather not respond.”</p> <p><strong>(MORE</strong>: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130407171034/http://ideas.time.com/2011/10/12/has-empathy-become-the-new-scapegoat/">Has Empathy Become the New Scapegoat?</a>)</p> <p>To be sure, Democrats have no monopoly on empathy: some liberal <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130407171034/http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/03/what-rob-portman-learned/63166/">reactions</a> to Portman’s conversion were disdainful and decidedly not empathetic. It would have been better, some progressives complained, had Portman come to this view without requiring a gay son to force the issue. Perhaps. But it certainly would have been worse had Portman held to his prior view in spite of his gay son. In this instance, empathy (if even only for a family member) did trump ideology.</p> <p>It would be a mistake to assume that other conservatives can’t get better at considering the worldviews and yearnings of those outside their ideological tribe. (Remember early George W. Bush’s “compassionate conservatism”? It seems ripe for revival.) Schoolchildren are now being taught the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130407171034/http://www.cfchildren.org/second-step.aspx">skills</a> and <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130407171034/http://www.rootsofempathy.org/">habits</a> of empathy. There’s little reason why motivated political adults can’t.</p> <p>But of course, motivation is the key. The task of politics is ultimately to change minds, which requires imagining what’s in those minds. Republicans will either learn this or become, well, a minority group. Democrats, meanwhile, should try hard to feel their pain. Empathy keeps you on top.</p> </div> <footer class="entry-footer"> <div class="entry-author-module group has-book "> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130407171034/http://ideas.time.com/contributor/eric-liu/" rel="author" class="avatar-link"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130407171034im_/http://timeopinions.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/liu.jpg?w=74" class="avatar wp-post-image" alt="Eric Liu"/></a> <div class="content"> <h3 class="entry-author-name"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130407171034/http://ideas.time.com/contributor/eric-liu/" class="author-articles" rel="author">Eric Liu</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130407171034/http://www.twitter.com/ericpliu" class="author-twitter">@ericpliu</a> </h3> <div class="entry-author-bio"> <p>Liu is the author of several books, including <i>The Gardens of Democracy</i> and <i>The Accidental Asian</i>. He was a speechwriter and policy adviser to President Clinton. The views expressed are solely his own.</p> </div> </div> <figure class="author-book"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130407171034/http://www.amazon.com/Gardens-Democracy-American-Citizenship-Government/dp/1570618232" target="_blank"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130407171034im_/http://timeopinions.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/gardensofdemocracy.jpg" class="book"/></a><p>Liu's latest book is <i>The Gardens of Democracy: A New American Story of Citizenship, the Economy, and the Role of Government</i></p></figure></div> <div class="post-rail-ad" data-set="sidebar-ad"></div> <div class="post-rail" data-set="post-rail"></div> </footer> </article><div id="taboola-horizontalx4-responsive"></div> <script type="text/javascript"> window._taboola = window._taboola || []; _taboola.push({article:'auto'}); _taboola.push({mode:'horizontalx4-responsive', container:'taboola-horizontalx4-responsive', placement:'article'}); </script><div class="OUTBRAIN" 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class="fyre-comment-user"> <a class="fyre-comment-author"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130407171034im_/http://avatars.fyre.co/a/185/f52086114d2c7d85981e5e1e3baf3e8f/50.jpg?v=1365303069" class="fyre-user-avatar" alt="nitrat"/></a> <div class="fyre-comment-socialsync fyre-comment-from-livefyre"></div> </div> <header class="fyre-comment-head"> <a class="fyre-comment-username">nitrat</a> <span class="fyre-comment-user-rating" style="display: none;">5pts</span> <span class="fyre-comment-like" style="float: right;"> </span> </header> <section class="fyre-comment-body"> <div class="fyre-comment"> <p><p> You can't teach empathy to sociopaths.</p></p> </div> </section> <footer class="fyre-comment-footer"> </footer> </div> <div class="fyre-comment-divider"><div class="fyre-comment-divider"></div></div> <div class="fyre-comment-replies fyre-comment-container fyre-comment-replies-indent"> </div> </article> <article class="fyre-comment-article"> <div class="fyre-comment-wrapper"> <div class="fyre-comment-user"> <a class="fyre-comment-author"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130407171034im_/http://avatars.fyre.co/a/185/598650ce7827688a0c90bb7095f4ca99/50.jpg?v=1365164179" class="fyre-user-avatar" alt="HarryGantz"/></a> <div class="fyre-comment-socialsync fyre-comment-from-livefyre"></div> </div> <header class="fyre-comment-head"> <a class="fyre-comment-username">HarryGantz</a> <span class="fyre-comment-user-rating" style="display: none;">5pts</span> <span class="fyre-comment-like" style="float: right;"> </span> </header> <section class="fyre-comment-body"> <div class="fyre-comment"> <p><p>The new HBO documentary American Winter follows 8 families falling from middle-class to poverty in the aftermath of the great recession. We made this to help breakdown the stereotypes of the 47% as takers. If this film doesn't engender empathy on both sides of the isle, then nothing will: </p><p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130407171034/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJJR3lG72AA" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJJR3lG72AA</a></p></p> </div> </section> <footer class="fyre-comment-footer"> </footer> </div> <div class="fyre-comment-divider"><div class="fyre-comment-divider"></div></div> <div class="fyre-comment-replies fyre-comment-container fyre-comment-replies-indent"> </div> </article> <article class="fyre-comment-article"> <div class="fyre-comment-wrapper"> <div class="fyre-comment-user"> <a class="fyre-comment-author"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130407171034im_/http://avatars.fyre.co/a/185/f8ef97180bbdd414c3f87408609af953/50.jpg" class="fyre-user-avatar" alt="MartiWilliams"/></a> <div class="fyre-comment-socialsync fyre-comment-from-livefyre"></div> </div> <header class="fyre-comment-head"> <a class="fyre-comment-username">MartiWilliams</a> <span class="fyre-comment-user-rating" style="display: none;">5pts</span> <span class="fyre-comment-like" style="float: right;"> <span class="fyre-comment-like-imgs"> <span class="fyre-avatar"> <a><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130407171034im_/http://avatars.fyre.co/a/185/f52086114d2c7d85981e5e1e3baf3e8f/50.jpg?v=1365303069" alt="like.author.displayName"/></a> </span> </span> <span class="fyre-comment-like-count">1 Like</span> </span> </header> <section class="fyre-comment-body"> <div class="fyre-comment"> <p><p>If one advocates for empathy, then one also sees 'shades of gray'. Shades of gray do not lend themselves to easy answers which is what the Republicans and even libertarians want to deal with. In an ideal world, every one would respond to education the same way, go to college, and proceed on the same tract to be in a better place, but through no fault of their own , there are people who can not do what is 'expected' of them and they 'fail'. Failure to turn out like you do is considered a failing in the person and not seen as a failure in the system, or a circumstance beyond anyone's control. <br/></p></p> </div> </section> <footer class="fyre-comment-footer"> </footer> </div> <div class="fyre-comment-divider"><div class="fyre-comment-divider"></div></div> <div class="fyre-comment-replies fyre-comment-container fyre-comment-replies-indent"> </div> </article> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <aside class="right-col"> <div class="featured-aside"> <div class="module ad-primary" data-set="sidebar-ad"> <script> // Setup ads var sidebarAds, sidebarDesktopAd, sidebarTabletAd, sidebarMobileAd, highImpactS = responsiveAd.highImpact( "sidebar" ); sidebarDesktopAd = { type: 'desktop', min: 336, size: ['336x280', '300x250', '300x600', '468x648'] } sidebarTabletAd = { type: 'tablet', min: 366, size: ['336x280', '300x250', '300x600'] } sidebarMobileAd = { type: "mobile", size: "300x250", config: { zone: '124136', site: '28275', 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