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Political Polarization Erodes Democracy
“When politicians start talking about large groups of their fellow Americans as ‘enemies,’ it’s time for a quiet stir of alertness. Polarizing people is a good way to win an election, and also a good way to wreck a country.”
~ Molly Ivins
The polarization in this country started in the 1970s and really took hold of Congress in the 1990s, as the left and right gradually moved farther apart and politicians decided it was more politically advantageous to demonize their opponents than to work together to lead the country. A variety of factors worked together to bring us to the point where each “side” feels contempt for the other.
This increase in polarization has led to an overall distrust of people in the opposing party. At its worst, polarization leads people to think that people in the opposing party are evil, stupid, hate America, communist, socialist, fascist, etc. Pew Research found that we are more ideologically divided than we have been in the past 20 years and a growing number in both parties view the other as “a threat to the nation’s well-being.”
Politicians are not helping, since some are engaged in exactly this type of rhetoric. Even after the Capitol was breached, they just can’t seem to stop using polarizing issues to stoke anger and manufacture outrage. Everything they do is campaigning…
