The longest government shutdown in history ended in late January. Once rare, government shutdowns have become more frequent, as the major parties fail to compromise enough to even keep the federal government funded and open. The shutdowns are one consequence of rising social and political polarization in the United States.
Polarization is not the same as disagreement about how to solve public policy problems, which is healthy and natural in a democracy. Polarization is about more than just having a different opinion than your neighbor about certain issues. Polarization occurs when we refuse to live next to a neighbor who doesn’t share our politics, or when we won’t send our children to a racially integrated school. The force that empowers polarization is tribalism: clustering ourselves into groups that compete against each other in a zero-sum game where negotiation and compromise are perceived as betrayal, whether those groups are political, racial, economic, religious, gender, or generational.
The impact isn’t limited to politics. Research shows that polarization is affecting families, workplaces, schools, neighborhoods, and religious organizations, stressing the fabric of our society. Antagonism might feel necessary in conditions of injustice—many Americans would agree, for example, that polarization needed to happen when the South clung to slavery. But being aware of the price we all pay for polarization might motivate us to reduce it, before the worst effects take hold. Here’s a list of reasons why Americans should strive to avoid worsening social and political antagonism—and to build bridges with each other.
[For more on this story by ZAID JILANI, JEREMY ADAM SMITH, go to https://greatergood.berkeley.e...arization_in_america]
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