The first point that stuck out to me in Autocracy Inc is that many democratic countries believed if they engaged with autocrats economically they'd export their clearly superior ideas and democracy would spread throughout the world1. This is a very common thought because we all want to believe that our ideas are the right ones, that will win out in the end and the other side is wrong. Our true ideas will prevail.
But the other side has the same thoughts. They have the handle on truth. You're missing the forest for the trees and sitting along political lines instead of seeing the truth that's obvious to them.
I like to remember that the other side is not dumb, in fact we spent the month of April reading Think Again which is all about how to reevaluate your ideas and engage with those that don't see the world as you see it.
While we may disagree with someone else, that doesn't mean they're wrong and you're right. In most situations there is no easy answer and anyone that claims to be an expert but has a simple one stop solution is lying to you. Most solutions have lots of caveats, acknowledged assumptions, and blind guesses that an expert is willing to admit to.
