That our country is politically polarized is probably one reality both sides can actually agree upon. But I fear that ideological and conceptual polarization has become a casualty to politics rather than the other way around.
Maybe understanding the historic events and behavioral roots that have produced these venomously angry polarized times can help us let go of at least a little of our own deep instinct to align with the tribe in the name of safety and protection.
It is hardly news that America has become more divided. But this survey offers fresh support that these divisions are not about gun control or abortion or any of the individual issues we fight about, but about deeper dissatisfactions and worries.
Why was it so difficult to avoid the fiscal cliff? Especially when, in the end, Congress couldn't salvage a grand bargain à la Simpson-Bowles, but instead settled for a quick fix?
To those 885,800 immigrants who arrived this year (up 110,000 from the year before), I say "Thank you for coming! We welcome and cherish your contributions to our economy. Please ignore the right wing nut jobs who want to send you away.
This back-and-forth controversy over marijuana is like a microcosm of the entire polarized political sphere. But we're losing sight of the common ground here: we all agree that addiction is a disease.
The national motto of France, which had its roots in the French Revolution, is "Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite." And how is that working for us here in the U.S.? Our liberties are being threatened by rightwing power grabs and over-reactions to threats of terrorism.
In the Grand Old Party, we see moral standards as necessary but humbling measures of our imperfections, revealing how far and how often we fall short. The principled perfection of the left, however, requires little such humility.
The Olympia Snowes of the world can complain all they want about the lack of middle ground. But plaints like this misapprehend fundamentally the dynamics of American politics. We're polarized largely because one party -- Snowe's own -- has simply gone off the deep end.
And who could have imagined a world of "Yes, we can," in which a young-ish African American president gets elected, only to be challenged by those claiming to want to restore some notion of the American dream, complete with a blurring of church and state?
Polarization in any environment is never a good thing-- unfortunately, this is what has happened to our world and our country, especially in its policies and politics.
Democracy is a rare and precious flower and it has allowed more progress for more people than any other system ever invented. But it is fragile. You can't yell too much. You can't demonize those who disagree with you.
Once again we do the rigid Kabuki dance, leading once again to political stalemate -- this time over raising the federal debt ceiling. Even with the ...
Watching the sandbox antics in Washington over yet another polarizing issue -- the debt ceiling -- I feel sad and angry at my country's incompetence.
What if there were a way to neuter ideological extremists, and zero out the oversized influence of lobbyists and big money and all the corruption that follows? And do it pretty damn quick.
Let's try to clarify why Congress is actually gridlocked. The bottom line is, alas, a bottom line. It is not complicated. And it has nothing to do with any design for a digital age.
There are four real contestants in the Republican primary. They are as follows, and in no particular order: Mitch Daniels, Mitt Romney, Jon Huntsman, and Tim Pawlenty.
Many factors are conspiring to reinforce and intensify a fundamental rift in Americans' political self-identification based on deep-seated personality characteristics.
Ferguson, father of the Investment Theory of Politics, explains why polarization has completely gripped Washington -- and why the New Deal is getting rolled back in the process.
There's this organ in the middle of my chest that obliges me every second of every day by beating. It can be wounded, disarmed and stunned, but it kee...
Our fellow citizens suffer from a collective psychosis: Americans think the US can't operate without the rich. We are, in effect, protecting them.
Fewer women in Congress is not just a woman's issue. It leaves the Congress comprised largely of men, and perfect conditions for even more posturing. Boys always behave better when girls are around.
The Juan Williams firing is a lesson about reacting too strongly before all the facts are in. It's a lesson about the dangers of relying on assumptions about intent without inquiring.
The fact that the more and less authoritarian now find homes in opposite political parties has made our politics almost impossibly acrimonious.
Moving toward a "clean energy economy" will require more than just a re-wiring of the energy grid; it will also take a re-wiring of ourselves -- a conversion, really, of our habits of the heart.
