When the dust settles after election month, what will Americans do to pick up the pieces of our fractured society and get back to work on our most pressing problems? This is a question we all should be asking ourselves today, whatever our side of the ideological divide.
Our current culture of partisan contempt is reaching a fever pitch. Terrifying incidents of political violence are breaking out on our streets, while too many of our elected officials — particularly on the right — are questioning the integrity of the upcoming elections and inciting violence. A recent study showed that the American populace is becoming increasingly accepting of political violence, predicting “violent partisanship among tens of millions of Americans.” The ensuing battle over Justice Ginsberg’s Supreme Court seat will only fan these flames.
Of course, the current tensions — fueled by the highly divisive politics of Donald Trump — are nothing new. The U.S. has been trapped in a 50-plus-year trajectory of escalating polarization and enmity, the adverse consequences of which become most evident in times of extreme need like today when we are unable to unite sufficiently and address emerging crises. This makes our divisions a problem of the first order in that they impair our capacities to problem solve as a society. When extreme natural disasters like COVID-19, wildfires and hurricanes fail to unify a nation and are instead weaponized as yet more partisan ammunition, it is a harbinger of worse to come...