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Letter: Get over gridlock by respecting honest difference and crafting consensus

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams announces his plans to run against two-term Rep. Mia Love, R-Utah, for the stateÕs 4th Congressional District, Wednesday October 18, 2017. (Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Fourth District Congresswoman Mia Love meets with Salt Lake Tribune's editorial board Tuesday August 30, 2016.

In the article “Love and McAdams trade jabs as race heats up” (Sept. 3), we see the sorry spectacle of two good people demonizing each other. This is not edifying. This happens too often in electoral campaigns. No one I have talked to likes this kind of campaigning. It is the reason many people don’t vote; they see no future in it. A better idea would be for the two candidates to have a debate on their issues. This would be informative and educational.

What Love and McAdams are doing is just the thing that causes congressional gridlock. It’s not all the fault of extremists. The cure for gridlock is respect for honest differences of opinion. That way things can get done. People with opposing views can get together and craft a consensus that will be good for all. It has been done before. Lyndon B. Johnson and Dwight Eisenhower did it. Edward Kennedy and Orrin Hatch did it. It can be done again.

No one is right all the time, neither Democrats nor Republicans. They need to listen to each other. And both parties have a common enemy: Donald Trump and his supporters. If the two parties can’t bury their differences and unite to save our democracy, their differences won’t make any difference.

Leon Johnson, West Valley City

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