Polarization has gotten worse. Everything is going according to plan.
(10/29/19 4:25am)
If the Chronicle opinion section is any proxy for discussion within the Duke community, it is fair to say that polarization is at the heart of the student body’s political concerns. Political polarization is a popular cause to lament today, and in many respects, it is worth lamenting. Polarization leads to such democratic unpleasantries as incivility, legislative gridlock and a lack of trust in institutions. These unfortunate phenomena have consequences of their own—they test the strength of the democratic experiment. Democracy relies on civility, compromise and trust in institutions, and polarization is eroding those principles.