Re: How Long Do We Have?
The Nation has gone through other highly partisan times before, and will again.
Right now, the thing to win much of the population over is to be a less highly polarized/ing talking head and with less pitching primarily to the respective party bases. A little bit of old-school gentlemanly diplomacy rather than hurling ICBMs at one another. The middle road completely satisfies nobody, but also spurns far fewer. Perhaps the Nation is ready for that phase of political behavior.
It will never be solved, but generally more civil, inclusive discourse goes a long way towards softening the edges in almost any arena. Until someone decides to push the envelope to gain an edge, then others follow, spiralling again. After that becomes the norm, someone dares to be 'different' by being civil, and everyone starts to follow, spiralling that way.
Any time there is a normal mode of operation that has been established for some time, the person who times being different (by luck, usually, and not "too" different) takes the pot. That then looks like a good idea, everyone follows, then that becomes the norm. Repeat cycle.
Harmonic motion is a fascinating thing that describes so much in so many arenas.
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