EP 479 Is There a Way Out of Our Toxic Polarization?

Our guest dedicates his book to ‘the 86 percent of Americans who are currently exhausted, miserable, and desperately seeking a way out of the culture of contempt’.  I’d imagine many of you are among that legion, so why are we letting only 14 percent of our nation lead us into deadlock, dysfunction and national decay, as we approach what appears to many of us to be a national nervous breakdown.  And if those 14 percent look anything like the insurrectionists on January 6, 2021 perhaps we can find a plot of land, just offshore, where they can dream up conspiracies and be vengeful toward each other.  Professor Peter Coleman, a Columbia University professor of Peace and Conflict, has written a new book ‘The Way Out’ and offers a new perspective on looking at what has been building up in this country for the last forty years.  He’s thoughtful and reasonable, and somewhat optimistic, that this too shall pass.  If you need some help getting there, take a listen.             

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