Our View: FOCUS 2021: Why are Americans so polarized?
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How did Americans get so divided?
Friday, Jan. 22, 2021 5:33 AM
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President Biden’s call for unity in his inaugural speech Wednesday is testament to the terrible divide in our country and in our community, the polarization that has led us to identify “Healing the Rift” as one of the Durango Herald’s four primary topics of editorial discourse this year.
We must attempt to achieve “that most elusive of all things in democracy unity,” our new president exhorted the nation, and “end this uncivil war.”
But the next president will repeat the oath of office on Wednesday sealed off from those he governs by a global pandemic and the threat of violence from his predecessorâs supporters. Biden steps into the White House facing the unprecedented challenge not only of healing a country grappling with the highest number of coronavirus deaths in the world but a nation so politically, geographically and socially divided that seven in 10 Republicans say the election was stolen from Donald Trump.
Surging Covid infections would have discouraged the crowds who usually turn out on the National Mall to welcome a new president. But the storming of Congress by rightwing extremists and white nationalists in support of Trump has prompted an almost total shutdown of the heart of American governance.
Above The Fray
January 11, 2021
The U.S. elections have passed, but the discord of the past few years continues to simmer, embroiling families, friendships, and communities. To stay together, finding a space outside of politics is more important than ever. Judaism is neither liberal, nor progressive, nor conservative. It is Judaism. It precedes all of these categories, cuts through them, and floats above them. The wisdom of an eternal Torah, given by an infinite G-d, and articulated by 3,000 years of organic tradition can never be contained by any man-made ideology or party platform. This does not mean that the positions of traditional Judaism, those espoused by the Torah, will never coincide with a particular political position. Nor does it mean that we are supposed to remain detached from all temporal matters and from politics of the day. It only means that we can’t let ourselves be defined by them.
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GRASSROOTS STICK WITH TRUMP The recriminations came swiftly after Wednesday’s deadly insurrection at the Capitol, in calls for President Donald Trump’s impeachment and White House resignations that spilled over into today, David Siders writes.
many parts of america, and the rest of the world. and it brings me to my question. what percentage of american students learn a foreign language at school? is it 12%? 20? 30? or 45%? stay tuned and we ll tell you the correct answer. my book of the week is uncivil agreement by lilliana mason. there are many books now slang why americans are so divided. this slender academic treatise strikes me as the most persuasive. it points out our political identity has been fused with our social identity. if you tell me who you voted for, i can tell you where you live, shop, eat, and pray. that turns out to produce extreme polarization and gridlock. now for the last look. for decades in china, most couples were only allowed to have a single child. and even today, most families are limited to two. well, this month an unusual