Colonel Jeffrey Roth
Colonel Jeffrey Roth spent a lifetime navigating the complexities of leadership, from his small-town roots in Michigan to his military service and humanitarian work in post-Communist Romania.
As the best-selling author of Fires, Floods, and Taxicabs, Roth continues to offer deep insights into America’s challenges, most recently in his op-ed Building Bridges in a Fractured Nation: The Future of America’s Political Discourse.
In this candid interview with NewsBlaze, Roth expands on his call for engagement and understanding in the face of political division. Drawing on personal experiences and historical parallels, he outlines how we can move beyond echo chambers to find common ground in an increasingly polarized world.
Interview
Alan Gray, NewsBlaze Editor: Colonel Roth, I read your op-ed Building Bridges in a Fractured Nation. What inspired you to write that?
Colonel Jeffrey Roth: It was a number of things. Right now, there’s a level of vitriol in the American civic or political discourse, and that’s very concerning. There’s always been tension and disagreement in politics-that’s what politics is about, hashing out and debating differences. But what’s unique today is how personal it gets and how vitriolic the attacks are.
I believe there’s a hunger in the American body politic for more discourse that brings us together, that talks about problem-solving and finding common ground. That’s missing in a big way in our typical political process.
One of my early experiences in public life, when I was growing up, was working in inner-city Detroit with young people whose reality was very different from mine. Those experiences eventually led me to Romania, where I did humanitarian work in the 1990s, just after the Berlin Wall fell. I saw that society changing, grappling with the realities of freedom-both the good and the bad.
Through these experiences, I saw how public policy can affect people’s lives in real ways. My heart has always been drawn to the political process as a solution for improving lives. But when our political discourse becomes so personal and dark, it pulls us away from that. So, I felt compelled to share my perspective in the op-ed-on what we can do as leaders in our communities, churches, and neighborhoods to create space for dialogue, even with those who think differently. We need to be okay with that.
Historical Parallels
AG: In your analysis, you drew on some historical parallels. What historical lessons do you think are relevant to today’s political climate?
Colonel Roth: I try to distinguish between tension, which is healthy, and vitriol, which is not. You’ve got to have some level of tension in democratic spaces to allow for debate and compromise. But what feels different today is the level of hatefulness and divisiveness. I hear all the time about people ending friendships over political disagreements.
Social media plays a role in that. People block others over differences expressed online, creating echo chambers. It amplifies divisiveness, and that’s dangerous.
Historically, we’ve had messy debates too. Take the Declaration of Independence. It wasn’t a foregone conclusion. There were heated debates and revisions-slavery was even included in the early drafts. But through all that messiness, we got a foundational document that laid out the country’s aspirational ideals. It inspires me because it shows that even through infighting and compromise, something beautiful can emerge.
We tend to forget how long and messy the process can be. Young people, especially, seem to have missed out on learning about these historical complexities. But messiness is part of the process, and that’s okay.
Messiness is Normal
AG: Yes, people don’t realize that the messiness has always been there.
Colonel Roth: Exactly. We shouldn’t be afraid of it. We just need to lean into it respectfully and make sure all voices are heard.
Pathway to Deep Political Divisions
AG: What led us to what appear to be deep political divisions?
Colonel Roth: There are several factors. For me, it’s really the pace of change in the world. We have access to information 24/7 through news cycles, the internet, and social media. This creates a pace of change that is scary for many people, and a lot of them feel left behind.
We’ve also seen significant economic shifts, particularly in the U.S., where many working-class jobs went overseas, leading to wage stagnation. People feel like they’ve been left behind, and that has eroded trust in our political process.
It’s easy to blame social media, and while it plays a role, I don’t think it’s that simple. Social media has given people more access and transparency, which benefits democracy, but it can also create echo chambers. Algorithms show people what they already agree with, reinforcing divides.
It amplifies our natural instinct to cluster around ideas and people who think like us. This, combined with the rapid pace of technological change, leaves many feeling overwhelmed. One of my mentors talks about how, in this century, we will experience more technological change than in the previous 2,000 years. People are struggling to keep up, and governments aren’t doing enough to help them adapt.
Other political issues, like gerrymandering and the electoral college, also contribute to division. These processes leave many voices out, fueling frustration. While they may have benefits, they exacerbate partisanship in ways we haven’t seen historically.
Outside The U.S.
AG: How do you see this affecting people outside the U.S.? How does it play out on the global stage, and what are people thinking about America with all of this messiness?
Colonel Roth: That’s a great question. Since World War II, the U.S. has played a crucial role in establishing and maintaining a rules-based international system that has worked for many countries. But trust in that system is being eroded by the political messiness within the U.S.
Our partnerships and alliances are critical not just to the international order but also to the U.S. itself. When our allies see our internal political dysfunction, they may question whether we can sustain our leadership role. This instability becomes an opportunity for adversarial state and non-state actors-countries like China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran, as well as challenges like climate change, pandemics, cyber threats, and terrorism.
When the U.S. appears divided and distracted, it creates a vacuum that these actors can exploit. That’s why we need to pay attention to our internal divisions-they have real global implications. We have to address them because the threats are not going away.
Moving Beyond Echo Chambers
AG: You emphasized the need to move beyond echo chambers. Do you think that’s possible, or will this eventually resolve itself?
Colonel Roth: I’m an optimist, so I do believe there’s a way through this. It’s a chapter in American political history, but we can get beyond it. However, it will take leadership at all levels, not just in government but also civic leaders, to move us forward.
We need examples of how to engage in a post-social media, post-24-hour news cycle world. The internet has only been around in a public way for about 20 years. I remember first encountering it in college in the late 1990s. Before that, in grade school, we had floppy disks and played Oregon Trail on Apple computers! This technological shift is still very new in human history.
So, it will take time, but it will also take leadership. Leaders need to guide us away from this path by emphasizing storytelling and relationships-two often neglected aspects of leadership. Through stories, leaders can remind us who we are and what our aspirations are. We also need leaders who model strong, healthy public relationships, especially with those who hold different views.
I’m optimistic this is a temporary period in history, but it won’t resolve on its own. It requires active leadership.
Is Talk of Relocation Real?
AG: Thank you, that’s insightful. I always think military people have a unique perspective on this because their training includes thinking through these broader consequences. Do you think there’s a growing trend of Americans talking about relocating due to political dissatisfaction? Or is that more talk than reality?
Colonel Roth: That’s an interesting question. I grew up in Michigan, which is as cold as parts of Canada. People say they’ll move there, but come winter, they might rethink that decision!
Back in high school, I remember hearing people joke about leaving the country if a certain candidate won the presidency. It was said in jest. Today, I hear similar conversations, but they seem more serious. I’ve personally talked to people who feel the danger is much more real and significant. The level of concern has definitely increased.
Do I think people are really going to leave? Maybe, but more likely, we’ll see internal migration within the U.S. We already see people clustering in states that align more with their political values. Whether or not we’ll see a massive exodus, I’m not sure. But the fact that people are having these conversations shows how deeply concerned they are about the consequences of political outcomes.
Moving Toward a More Cohesive Future
AG: Looking ahead, what do you see as the most crucial steps needed to move toward a more cohesive future?
Colonel Roth: I think the way to overcome these divides is to build trust and confidence between each other-our neighbors, our public institutions, and our different levels of government. That comes through engagement. People living in democratic societies need to lean forward and get involved, whether it’s key issues they care about or local initiatives like feeding the hungry or housing the poor. It’s important for people to lean in.
Through that engagement, we strengthen trust and confidence. But it’s also critical for leaders at all levels to build transparency and accessibility. Leaders need to be honest and listen to their constituencies, even when they don’t agree with their political beliefs. When they fail to do that, there has to be accountability, whether through the ballot box or public outrage.
As we discussed, civic education is also vital. We often take it for granted in democratic societies, but there has to be a framework for teaching youth how to engage, how to be politically involved, and why these processes matter. Part of that education is academic, but part of it is about practicing the work of living in a democracy. I think these two things-engagement and education-are critical to rebuilding trust and confidence.
AG: Yes, in Australia, they’re just starting to put civic education back in the curriculum after realizing it was missing.
Colonel Roth: That’s excellent to hear.
Rebuilding Trust
AG: In your op-ed, you mentioned rebuilding trust. How can that be achieved in a divided society?
Colonel Roth: It’s difficult, but I think it comes down to two parts. First, leaders at all levels have to lead by example in building trust. I have a military background, and most of my career has been as a reservist, though I’ve been full-time at times.
What I’ve seen, both in the military and the public and private sectors, is that you build bonds of trust by going through hardship together. Whether it’s training or a challenging environment, you build confidence in one another, in your equipment, your plans, and your leadership.
The U.S. is going through a tough time politically, but I believe our leaders can leverage this difficulty. If we rely on one another, we can turn this into an opportunity to strengthen our bonds of trust and confidence.
There are also external threats to democracies today – not just adversarial state actors like China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran, but also non-state threats like climate change, pandemics, cyber threats, and even the new frontier of space. These challenges are new to us, and technology is evolving faster than ever.
Leaders need to help people see that while the environment is changing rapidly, we can get through these hardships together by relying on our communities. The messaging has to emphasize that we’re all in this together, and that’s critical for building trust.
AG: Thank you for sharing your perspective.
Colonel Jeffrey Roth’s book, Fires, Floods, and Taxicabs is available at Amazon and quality bookstores.
