OUR POLARIZED NATION
POLITICAL WARS: GUT LEVEL HATRED
"Divisions between Democrats and Republicans have expanded far beyond the traditional fault lines based on race, education, gender, the urban-rural divide and economic ideology. Polarization now encompasses sharp disagreements over the significance of patriotism and nationalism, as well as a fundamental split between those seeking to restore perceived past glories and those who embrace the future." Thomas B. Edsell of The New York Times in his opinion piece entitled: "Gut-Level Hatred is Consuming Our Political Life" (July 19, 2023)
The political wars are portrayed in any number of forms: Red States vs. Blue States, Liberals vs. Conservatives, Blue collar vs. White collar, Urban vs. Rural and so on. But the tone of the political polarization has taken on more personal and derogative terms.
As the Pew Research Center has recently stated: "Partisan polarization has long been a fact of political life in the United States. But increasingly, Republicans and Democrats view not just the opposing party but also the people in that party in a negative light. Growing shares in each party now describe those in the other party as more closed-minded, dishonest, immoral and unintelligent than other Americans. Perhaps the most striking change is the extent to which partisans view those in the opposing party as immoral." Pew Research Center, "As Partisan Hostility Grows, Signs of Frustration with the Two-Party System" (August 9, 2022)