The political divide in the United States has become irreconcilable, study says

[AZProgressive]

Politics in the United States have become an increasingly polarized affair for decades, driven largely by the right moving further to the right. Observation of political polarization is not merely anecdotal; studies repeatedly bear this out.

Now, some researchers say the partisan rift in the United States has become so extreme that the country may be at a point of no return.

According to a theoretical model's findings published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the pandemic failing to unite the country, despite political differences, is a signal that the U.S. is at a disconcerting tipping point.

"We see this very disturbing pattern in which a shock brings people a little bit closer initially . . . but if polarization is too extreme, eventually the effects of a shared fate are swamped by the existing divisions and people become divided even on the shock issue," said network scientist Boleslaw Szymanski, a professor of computer science and director of the Army Research Laboratory Network Science and Technology Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. "If we reach that point, we cannot unite even in the face of war, climate change, pandemics, or other challenges to the survival of our society."

https://www.salon.com/2021/12/08/us-political-polarization-tipping-point/

[Baitball Blogger]

1. As someone else pointed out, what does it matter when the Republican party is trying to steal

elections and we have lawyers willing to lie to get on the Supreme Court.

If we don't have the power to enforce subpoenas, we are going to lose this country to lawless people who are willing to use aggression in order to get their way.

[tulipsandroses]

2. I would agree. It will be many years before this country returns to some semblance of normalcy

Orange ogre lit the match poured gasoline on the fire that was already kindling.

[SergeStorms]

11. If ever.

I can't see anyone in the GQP as a "voice of reason" anymore. Chances are Liz Cheney is going to be primaried or so marginalized she'll be forced out of the Trumpublican party.

If the American people don't overwhelmingly reject Trump's power mad party, this country is finished as a democracy.

[czarjak]

3. If only one side would see the light and own it instead of "The Libs"??????????????????????????????

[leftstreet]

4. What about the half of eligible voters who don't vote?

Does anyone know their "politics?"



I'm so sick of this red/blue divided country bullshit

[roamer65]

5. I remember another country that had the same problem.

YUGOSLAVIA.

[DURHAM D]

6. Well, they are trying to kill us by not getting vaccinated.

otoh - They are mostly killing their own people. However, good people get caught up in the genocide.

[maxsolomon]

7. Oh well.

I've never voted for a Repuke in 40 years. I'll never reconcile with them.

[Skittles]

8. when one side wants the country to move backwards

there can be NO RECONCILIATION

[unblock]

9. Well, duh. In the war against covid, they sided with the virus.

How do you reconcile with that?

[MustLoveBeagles]

10. How can we come together

When the two sides can't even agree on what reality is.

[Trust_Reality]

18. Reality can usually be verified.

There can be massive disagreement on things like cause, and especially cure, but reality does not compromise with nonsense for the sake of agreement.

I suggest that a very troublesome segment of society consists of the 'believers," a term most often used to describe religious persons. What believers do is believe. They have "their own facts". If they thoroughly attach to someone or some claim, they become fixed, rigid, stuck. The more outrageous their belief(s), the more difficult it is to admit how foolish and gullible they have been. If they operationalize their beliefs with action, they become even more rigid and stuck.

The best lesson, perhaps the only effective lesson about reality is adequate consequences, a dose of reality they cannot ignore.

Natural and logical consequences provide unbeatable learning experiences.

[certainot]

12. any analysis that doesn't factor rw radio is bad- what's happening to repubs now is closely tied

to limbaugh's death. he was their intellectual and moral leader for 30 years, helping them deny reality, create certainty, and rationalize their ignorance and bigotry

now they're lost without a head and the certainty he helped them create is no longer there to ease their sex on the wrong brain authoritarian fear of complexity, unpredictability, and nature

[vercetti2021]

13. Doesn't surprise me

Neither side wants to be friends. I don't want to be friends with fascists that wanna kill me.

[moondust]

14. By design?

GQP may believe that if they can create enough dysfunction and chaos then more Americans will embrace their autocracy in the name of stopping the madness and restoring "order."



Maybe the "business party" would prefer to run the country like a top-down corporation with them being the board of directors handing down all the decisions on what to do. Kinda like Communist China.

[Trust_Reality]

20. I agree, and would be willing to leave off "maybe".

[The Unmitigated Gall]

15. It's getting about time for a national divorce.

I just don’t see how that can happen while preserving geopolitical stability. But yes, I’d feel more at home in a village at 14,000 feet in the Chilean Andes than these homegrown rightwing types.

[NJCher]

19. npr did a story on this a week or so ago

splitting the country up. I was shocked to hear 41 per cent of Democrats think it's a good idea.

I'm fairly certain that's correct but not 100%.

Personally, I'm all in favor of it. It will never happen, though, because when it gets down to the wire, the states with all the money are mostly Dem: CA, NY, etc., When the red states learn they have to pay their own freight, the split won't go anywhere.

They are an albatross, like East Germany was to West Germany.

And we can't do anything about it because of minority rule.

[Trust_Reality]

21. Years ago I read something about a Russian strategy to do just that.

Payback for the USSR breaking up. I think Putin is obsessed with it.

I admit getting rid of radical right wingers sounds pretty enticing.

[pecosbob]

23. Russia has funded referenda for this in California

A bloody court ruled that this was okay since referenda aren't technically elections. WTF?

[ecstatic]

16. Duh. How do you find middle ground with

racist insurrectionists?

[Joe Nation]

17. At least there were some people that saw it coming

Can a civilized society really divorce itself from its perceived demons without destroying itself in the process? As coming together seems less and less likely, maybe the time has come to start talking about an amicable divorce. For the sake of the kids. Between gun deaths, anti-mask anti-vaccine parents, and generational racism, the kids aren't doing so well in the marriage. Mom and dad need to step up and be the adults instead of the problem. I'm ready to serve the papers on this Trump humping asshole.

[pecosbob]

24. Similar indications from a poll the other day showing liberals won't date conservatives

I once had a Catholic girl litmus me over my beliefs on abortion on a blind date set up by friends...no second date. Tripped me out at the time but I understand it and can deal with it.

How am I supposed to socialize with someone who's hung a black flag outside their home, signalling to all that care to look that they are ready and willing to kill people for their lifestyle or beliefs?