What do we still share in an age of political polarization?
Deepening fragmentation reflects an urgent challenge: our growing difficulty in identifying what truly matters, and therefore in designing policies that promote our collective well-being.
polarization
How a different kind of education built the world’s most equal democracies
Nordic countries used an education system rooted in human ecology and civic formation to build high‑trust, more equal democracies. Could similar changes in U.S. schools help confront inequality, polarization and the climate crisis?
Sustainability: It’s About More Than Climate Change
Rather than a people with a common dream and shared understanding of constitutional (federal and state) roots and values, American democracy is devolving into aggressive tribalist factions—where loyalty to the party supersedes that to the nation and, for one group, loyalty to a person trumps everything else—including the truth.
Are These the End Times?
Peter Turchin’s latest book, End Times: Elites, Counter-Elites, and the Path of Political Disintegration, is receiving glowing reviews. Its message is highly relevant to our collective understanding of the emerging global polycrisis and what needs to be done to minimize it.
Jonathan Haidt: “Social Psychology in an Age of Social Fragmentation”
Today, Nate is joined by social psychologist Jonathan Haidt. Professor Haidt is one of the leaders in the understanding of human biases and predispositions, and how they affect cooperation, communication, and change-making.
Political polarization is pushing evangelicals to a historic breaking point
But the current juncture has created a moment loaded with potential, in which the unprecedented alignment of evangelicalism with the Republican right is being shaken — at least at the margins — and new possibilities are emerging.
The Greatest Crisis Facing the Nation May Not Be Climate Change (2)
There are no shades of gray in today’s politics. It means that most policy discussions are binary — red or blue — and incapable of compromise. It shouldn’t be that way. If it continues this way, the consequences will be enormous.
Joe Manchin’s “Strategic” Paws: Will They Choke Biden’s Climate Plans?
What will Joe Biden be remembered for? It likely depends on the fate of two pieces of legislation that encompass nearly the entirety of his once-in-a-generation agenda, including infrastructure, climate, voter rights, higher taxes for the wealthy, equal justice for people of color and low incomes, healthcare, and greater assistance for low-income families and children.
America’s (Likely) Violent Future
In the past, socio-political fires like this have usually burned themselves out eventually—but not before a lot of people got hurt.
What Could Possibly Go Right?: Episode 31 Michelle Singletary
Michelle Singletary is an author and award-winning personal finance columnist. She writes the nationally syndicated personal finance column “The Color of Money”, which appears in The Washington Post. She addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?”
A Blue Dog Night: What It Might Mean for a Green New Deal
A year more of gridlock on climate matters, including green infrastructure, would not only bring the nation closer to crossing the 1.5 degree Celsius threshold scientists warn of, but it could well fracture the Democratic Party.
