Short Review | Love Your Enemies by Arthur C. Brooks

Yes, I know you’re going to recommend to me a lot of books about systemic racism, or how shame is bad, or why we aren’t responsible for what other people do, or something else that’s a panacea to what’s going on right now, and you’re all correct. Those are probably good books to add to the conversation, as well. I’ll read them (or, at least try. There is only so much time).

But Love Your Enemies is different. It doesn’t presume to have all the answers, and it doesn’t think much about calls to “return to civility,” either (for example, Brooks says your friends would say you needed marriage therapy if you said you and your spouse were “civil” with each other. It’s a pretty low bar, he says). It doesn’t even think we need to agree. In fact, Brooks argues in Love Your Enemies that competition, especially of ideas, is important and critical.

What it does argue is that we need to stop holding each other in contempt because we disagree or are different from each other. We need to stop demonizing our opponents and adversaries. We need to start recognizing that even when we disagree about the policy, most of the time–if not all of the time–we share a love and a desire to make things better, to improve the lives of Americans. When we frame our conversations as debates about how to reach an outcome that is in our common interest, a discussion about the what instead of the why, then we can begin to have healthy and honest discussions again.

I am sure that I am failing to give this book the thrift it deserves, so just take a moment and go get it at the library, listen to an audio version, or pick it up from the bookstore. It’s short, it’s thought-provoking, and, honestly, its call for love over contempt even as we continue to debate the best way forward on tough issues might be the most radical thing we can do right now.

And if we can’t love our enemies, maybe we can, as I opened with this quote from C.S. Lewis, at least pretend until the pretense becomes real.