Lincoln Day message for the ages

Abe would’ve been proud.

The man deemed by some as the greatest American president surrounded himself not with “yes” men but with smart, gutsy advisers who weren’t afraid to tell him when they thought he was wrong. Abraham Lincoln also listened intently to his critics and constantly tested what he thought or what he believed against what was evident in other people’s perspectives.

That’s why Lincoln would have been proud of Mike Baker last Friday night at the GOP Lincoln Day Dinner at The Coeur d’Alene Resort. Baker, a frequent Fox News commentator and former CIA agent, addressed a 100 percent Republican crowd and passionately fanned the flames of understanding and civility.

Among his messages was this: If you really want to be informed, don’t get stuck in echo chambers.

“Read and listen to everything,” Baker said. “Don’t limit yourself to one source of news or information. Even if it’s frustrating, even if getting outside that means you feel like you want to bang your head against the wall, you have to understand what the other side — those with a different opinion — you have to understand what they’re saying. You have to understand how they phrase an argument. You have to understand what they consider to be the truth.”

Baker made it clear that he wasn’t imploring his audience to abandon their principles or their preferences. But if you disagree, he said, do so civilly — and only after you understand what the other person is saying.

That’s the way Lincoln would do it, Baker suggested.

“Conviction, strength, a belief in civil discourse, humor, humility — it was a powerful combination of virtues and characteristics,” he said of Lincoln.

Baker’s message should resonate with Democrats, too. As unpopular as our current president is with many Americans — just as Trump’s predecessor was with his critics — upstanding citizens are being vilified or subjected to personal attack because they support Trump. In the end, all of America suffers when we don’t exchange ideas respectfully, when we don’t disagree respectfully.

“… Sometimes, honestly it looks like, nowadays, it’s trench warfare,” Baker said. “It’s WWI all over again. Two sides sitting in their trenches, nobody wants to get out.”

The way to get out, as Baker emphasized, is to broaden your perspective. Read and listen to multiple reports and opinions. Try to understand why other intelligent people might see things differently than you do.

In other words, try to be a little more like Abe.