Political polarization may be the most pressing challenge of our time. Ideological divides continue to deepen - eroding our trust in institutions, corroding public discourse, tearing friends and families apart. Where did this suddenly come from?

It Didn’t. It has been building for years.

1.) In the 60’s, the centuries old value system of white males gave way to a whole new ideal. The civil rights movement brought in different racial groups and the women’s movement altered the status quo. This absolutely needed to occur to in order to become an inclusive democracy.

2) The ‘trickle down economics’ of the ‘80s created financial rifts with the destruction of unions and blue collar jobs. Then, evangelical Christians joined the Republican Party to fight abortion. Suddenly there was both financial and religious division in politics.

3) In the Great Recession of 2008, the middle class funded a massive bailout of corporate and urban America which was not the fault of the middle class but was entirely the fault of the elite financial and banking institutions. Most of that bailout money did not come back to the middle class and instead stayed in the CEO’s pockets with staggering salaries- creating an unsustainable amount of wealth disparity. Urban America experienced a boom as the middle-class rich rural areas experienced a bust.

4) Lately, white nationalism has emerged and are scapegoating immigrants. This was highly predictable because white males will become a minority and eclipsed by ethnic groups by the late 2020s - reducing their political power.

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Suddenly we find ourselves in two camps. Not only are we wrapped in identities that are confrontational, but there are deep beliefs that separate us - ripe for all of the enemies abroad to exploit, as well as those who want power inside America itself. We find ourselves sliced and diced financially, religiously, politically, regionally, and racially. This is ominous. Societies with these divides do not survive historically.

This is polarization. At its core are the layers of identity mentioned above - creating an ‘Us versus Them’ mentality. One side views those that oppose them as not just wrong, but morally inferior, while the other side sees them as dangerous and a violation. This tribalism leads to cynicism and conflict in which compromise is nearly impossible because of baked in deep beliefs and those layers of identity. At the same time democracy seems to be failing for white christians as their political power wanes with new demographics - so that demographic has a tendancey to wonder why they should support the old American system.

At it’s worst this leads to a spiral of violence on both sides. Even when the majority on both sides are against such violence, if leaders do not speak out against it, it is easy enough for any match to spark a fire. All it takes is for one side to believe that the other side ‘started it’.

Even now, families and friendships fracture. The neighborhood barbecue does not occur because of rifts politically, religiously and racially.

If you ask one question it should be this-

Is this the future that you want for America?

The Mainstream Party’s voice is the best solution to the widening rift. It can bring a sense of shared values to a system destined to fracture.

How to do this-

Erasing polarization does not mean dispelling our differences. It means engaging with the other side constructively and re-humanizing the rest of Americans who do not see things your way. It means that we all must recognize that listening just to what we want to hear does little to move our country forwards and leads to radicalism.

It means leaders must speak out against all forms of political violence rather than feeding the flames. A true leader would at least say one sentence to discourage violence.

It includes community forums where everyone listens with curiosity and dialog. This brings neighbors into an understanding in which solutions are generated. Human to human interaction between two oppositions tend to create a third something… a community that is not seen in the trenches of the digital forums or politics. Out of this comes a surprising shared identity and resolution.

It means making sure everyone hears the same facts. We have all listened to one news station and it’s interpretation of a a court decision and then turned the dial to another station,…. and end up wondering if it is even the same court or the same decision. The discrepancies can be astounding. Studies show that the American public is increasingly consuming news sources that suit their beliefs and politics rather than listening to a source with balance. These studies also show that the public has a hard time distinguishing actual journalism from the tabloid writers and ‘fake news’.

What if more information were available about news sources? Studies confirm that when consumer labels educate us about the dangers, calories or ingredients — they help us make better decisions. If such nonpartison information was available regarding our intake of news, it would help people sort out truth from fiction. It would encourage journalism again. Most importantly it should force all sources of news to become more accurate. Lastly this does not tell the public what they can watch, but empowers them to choose more wisely.

It is also about redirecting misinformation. There is a 24 billion dollar industry built around social platforms including content creation, influencers, marketing, niche platforms, coders for spam bots, engagement bots, imposter bots and political bots.

Medical professionals tell us that daily anger and anxiety create mental and physical illnesses. If we all turned off the radio when we started feeling anger rise inside, it would help our health. If we all turned off the news or switched stations when we felt they are creating fear, we could listen more effectively. If , when we feel hate towards another, we all turned off our social media for a day or even a week …. maybe the algorithms would change and we could once again see the world as it is. Certainly we would be more at peace with ourselves and each other.