Above all, many urge a restoration of citizenship as an overriding American identity, even as they recognize the difficulty of getting there when the gaps between us are enduring and expanding. The country's divisions existed before the Trump era, but now Americans seem to have embraced polarization. Because American identity is civic rather than ethnic, a sense of personal trust and mutual belonging is indispensable. Klein does not imagine we can rid ourselves of political polarization, nor would we entirely want to; some degree of polarization is needed if the parties are to offer competing and coherent platforms. He doesn’t see such reforms as revolutionary; they would merely insulate government operations against the most serious risks of polarization, he writes.

Source: Washington Post October 30, 2020 12:56 UTC