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The Elections

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We, as Americans, cherish the freedom and right to disagree—which we do, often deeply about important issues that need resolution. But polarization undermines that freedom by tightening prejudices rather than opening thought, thus diminishing the chances for finding resolutions and moving forward.  So while polarization may feel like a righteous champion of freedom and right, it is in fact just the opposite—a stick jammed in the spokes of the democratic discourse of freedom. Here are some of the common ways it does it:

  1. SEDUCES with loaded, heated language and childish name-calling that appeals more to emotion that reason.
  2. BLINKERS by using cherry-picked facts, and ignoring or mocking opposing arguments and evidence rather than actually addressing them.
  3. TRIVIALIZES by focusing on “straw-man” issues whose value in re-enforcing biases is clearly greater than their substance.
  4. BULLIES by making you feel like a dupe or a traitor if you even listen to the other side.
  5. FLATTERS with language and a tone that makes you feel like an insider, who, of course, agrees with them because you “get it” … just like they do.
  6. FRIGHTENS by portraying the other side as not just wrong, but a dangerous, evil enemy, replete with wicked hidden agendas.
  7. “CLANS,” that is, plays the “us vs. them” identity politics game of associating the other view with groups or people (implicitly) “inferior” to “us.”
  8. “TRIBES” by using the knowing winks and nods of sarcasm, coded language, words in quotes (suggesting they’re misleading) and innuendo which you, as a member of the tribe, of course, will understand without explanation or justification.

This week . . . weirdly, as the election results came in and the pundits chimed in, the partisan rancor felt, to me, less rather than more offensive. But then I realized that may be because elections are inherently about divisive partisanship. Elections are a zero-sum game. They are, by definition, primarily about winning. The problem is, governing is not primarily about winning (at least in a non-autocratic liberal democracy). It is about hashing out solutions amenable to various views, which means compromise. And until the mid to late 1960s we had “zero-sum election seasons” which ended. And then the politicians turned their hats around and went about their real business of the much longer “compromise governing season”. But as Sidney Blumenthal pointed out in his 1980 book The Permanent Campaign that began to change in the late 1960s. For various reasons, the inherently polarizing spirit of electioneering began to expand not just for the few months around an election, but full time. And as the emerging self-interested campaign-consulting class of professional fundraisers, PR hacks and political ad people and advisors emerged—happily fueling the lucrative battle-game of polarization—the divisive vitriol of the election season slowly overwhelmed the entire political enterprise.

So perhaps what I was feeling was that the overheated rhetoric of campaigning didn’t seem so bad around an election because it’s kind of what you would expect. What we should not expect is for that kind of electioneering gloves-off hyperbole to continue once the politicians get back to what should be their real jobs of governing. Except now their real jobs are campaigning. And raising money. Year round. (Just ask any Hill staffer what their bosses now spend much of their time doing).

So maybe the one of the solution to ending polarization is radical campaign reform…including public financing of elections? (I can feel the reactionary wheels of polarization cranking up at the mere suggestion.)

When reading these examples, check the above list and ask yourself: regardless of whether you agree or disagree, is this really advancing an intelligent resolution through the persuasive, rational arguments of advocacy…or simply fueling the fire of conflict through the divisive, emotional manipulations of polarization?

Here are just a few of the blue and red polarizing headlines from the past week.

More to explore

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