Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2024 | 2 a.m.
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I’m old enough to remember when it was difficult to find clear differences between the Republican and Democratic parties.
In 1950, the American Political Science Association warned that the two were too much alike. In 1952, they were so similar that Dwight Eisenhower could have run as a Republican or Democrat and still been elected president.
The roots of today’s polarization go back decades. Beginning in about 1990, debates got more personal and meaner. Politics began merging with personal identities. This escalated under President Donald Trump, who used it as a political weapon. And on Jan. 6, 2021, it nearly tore our country apart.
We once had a system that encouraged compromise and meeting in the middle. But Democrats have become more liberal and Republicans have drifted to the extreme right. With so few moderates left, compromise has become extremely difficult, so little gets done in Congress.
In addition, people absorb news from hundreds of sources today and don’t listen to other points of view. They choose to hear the news that confirms what they already believe. This confirmation bias leads to further polarization.
Worse, there is anger and demonizing of those who don’t agree with us. These division threaten the foundations of our democracy. “United we stand, divided we fall” is more than an idiom, it is an axiom. Somehow, we must find common ground. We need to get to know each other better, have conversations and at least consider other points of view. Our democracy depends upon it.
