What we are living through in America is not only a division but a great estrangement. It is between those who support Donald Trump and those who despise him, between left and right, between the two parties, and even to some degree between the bases of those parties and their leaders in Washington. It is between the religious and those who laugh at Your Make Believe Friend, between cultural progressives and those who wish not to have progressive ways imposed upon them. It is between the coasts and the center, between those in flyover country and those who decide what flyover will watch on television next season. It is between \u201cI accept the court\u2019s decision\u201d and \u201cBake my cake.\u201d We look down on each other, fear each other, increasingly hate each other.<\/p>\n
Oh, to have a unifying figure, program or party.<\/p>\n
But we don\u2019t, nor is there any immediate prospect. So, as Ben Franklin said, we\u2019ll have to hang together or we\u2019ll surely hang separately. To hang together\u2014to continue as a country\u2014at the very least we have to lower the political temperature. It\u2019s on all of us more than ever to assume good faith, put our views forward with respect, even charity, and refuse to incite.<\/p>\n