The divide between political parties is smaller than we think (2020)
This would be great news if everyone were invested in minimizing polarization and detoxing the political conflicts that we’re facing. But that’s not the case.<p>The biggest divide between the “parties” (which isn’t political in nature and has nothing to do with the very real and significant differences between the parties) is that one sees polarization as a tool and the other doesn’t acknowledge that.<p>On Twitter, this has been exceedingly shorthanded into “tan suit”. One party is so invested in conflict that they invent it by manufacturing a scandal out of a fashion choice. The other is so invested in conflict avoidance that it pathologically refuses to hold the first accountable for anything meaningful.<p>In other words the divide isn’t political, it’s about ambition and shrewdness. This won’t be overcome by finding common ground.<p>Edit: added a comma because it would’ve driven me nuts not to. Also to add a reasonable disclaimer that I’m not philosophically a member of either party, but I caucus&#x2F;coalition with the one I obviously perceive to not be fundamentally bellicose.<p>Edit 2: well since it needed clarification, I consider the Republican Party to be the bellicose one and the Democratic Party to be the spineless one.