Reclaiming the Middle Ground: Jill Long Thompson’s Vision for a More Collaborative Congress

American Thought Leaders

Jan Jekielek

Government, News, Politics

4.9 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 20 September 2024

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

“We need more members of Congress who recognize that there’s value on both sides,” says Jill Long Thompson, a former U.S. congresswoman from Indiana who served in the 1990s. As a Democrat, she represented a heavily Republican district as a fiscal conservative.

She says that today, polarization and gerrymandering—the redrawing of district lines for partisan benefit—have made people like her few and far between in Congress.

“We are electing people who are either further to the right or further to the left,” she says.

In this episode, Thompson makes the case for a return to bipartisan cooperation and civil discussion across the political divide. She’s the editor of and a contributor to the new book “Across the Aisle: Why Bipartisanship Works for America.” It features essays from a number of current and former members of Congress, both Republican and Democrat.

Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Is bipartisanship dead? A lot of Americans seem to think Congress is heading in that direction.
0:05.7	We need more members of Congress who recognize that there's value on both sides.
0:11.4	Jill Long Thompson, a former U.S. Congresswoman from Indiana who served in the 1990s,
0:17.0	makes the case for a return to bipartisan cooperation and civil discussion across the political aisle.
0:23.0	We are electing people who are either further to the right or further to the left.
0:27.0	Jerrymandering is a real issue for us that needs to be addressed.
0:32.0	She's the editor of the new book,
0:33.5	Across the Isle,
0:34.5	why bipartisanship Works for America.
0:37.0	It features essays from a number of current
0:39.0	and former members of Congress,
0:41.0	both Republican and Democrat.
0:43.0	It is very natural for us to look for things that confirm what we already believe or what
0:48.0	we want to believe.
0:49.8	But in the long run, we're all better off if we tell ourselves the truth as well as tell others the truth.
0:56.0	This is American Thought Leaders and I'm Yanya Kellick.
0:58.0	Jill Long Thompson,
1:02.5	such a pleasure to have you on American thought leaders.
1:05.0	It's a pleasure to be here, thank you.
1:08.0	So your book begins with two people from the opposite sides of the aisle, Senate majority leader for the Republicans,
1:15.2	Senate majority leader for the Democrats, writing an essay together. And they're saying that
1:19.6	Congress isn't working as it should.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in -148 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Jan Jekielek, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Jan Jekielek and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.