Originally Published on LinkedIn

In June 2018, I left my tech job and took a sabbatical in order to dedicate myself to understanding questions that had plagued me (and many other progressives) for the past eighteen months. How had the Trump election happened? What had I and many others failed to understand about America and our fellow citizens, more than 60 million of whom helped vote Trump into office?

Moreover, was this moment calling me to different work, in response to the seismic impacts of Trump’s emerging presidency? If so, what kind of work? Where should I channel my energies, in light of so many perceived areas of need?

Fast forward to October 2018. After a few months of directed reading, researching, and soul-searching, I’ve arrived at an unexpected place. While many causes engage and concern me (as a progressive, I’ve placed climate change, immigration reform, and gun violence at the top of my list), I have found myself increasingly preoccupied with understanding the deeper, systemic factors that have stymied broad collaboration and meaningful progress on these and many other intractable social issues.

Paramount among these systemic factors, it seems, are the twin ills of hyper-polarization and negative partisanship, which are fraying our social fabric, reducing our collective problem-solving capabilities, and eroding our cherished, democratic form of governance.    

Gerrymandering, dark money, voter suppression, voter apathy, perpetual campaigning, closed primaries, and the inherently limiting nature of our two-party system can all be assigned some blame for today’s deeply partisan politics at the national, state, and local levels. Media outlets and social media platforms fan the flames, by enabling all of us to consume information and opinions in ways that harden biases and narrow discussions rather than broadening perspectives, seeking common ground, or allowing dissenting views to be thoughtfully aired and considered.

As citizens, many of us have opted into all of this by voting for highly partisan, party-controlled candidates and by preferring media that confirms -- rather than challenges -- our narrow assumptions and biases. Worse, these preferences have simplified into labels that we wear like team jerseys, increasingly alienating ourselves from friends, family members, and fellow citizens who happen to wear the jersey of an opposing team.

Unless we change our preferences, political and media institutions will continue to serve up to us (and our children, and our grandchildren) generous helpings of negative partisan politics and biased media that will only divide us further into intractably competing and conflicting “teams.”

Happily, an important movement is gaining traction across the United States right now, one that seek to mitigate against hyper-polarization and negative partisanship. As articulated in Mark Gerzon’s recent book, The Reunited States of America: How We Can Bridge the Partisan Divide:

“This movement to reunite America is emerging now because normal, healthy partisanship has morphed into a cancerous hyperpartisanship that feeds on itself …. To reunite America, our challenge is to integrate and unify the best of both left and right. We must take the intelligence of conservatism and liberalism and apply it wisely and pragmatically to the challenges our country faces. But to do so, we must free ourselves from the obsolete political map that maintains that doing so is impossible.”

A key principle of this emerging movement is, “I can disagree with you, but it doesn’t mean I have to hate you.” Another simple principle is that by bringing diverse perspectives to the table, we can find common ground and identify more innovative solutions to intractable problems. None of this is rocket science, yet much of it needs to be relearned by a society in which many of us not only loathe but actually fear fellow citizens wearing different political or cultural stripes.    

Today I’m publicly declaring my commitment to this movement. I have begun serving as a strategy and technology advisor to four interrelated organizations that are helping to shape this emerging effort to bridge the partisan divide and restore democracy, by offering pioneering solutions to educators, students, citizens, and civic organizations:

AllSides.com is a unique media and technology platform dedicated to providing balanced news, supporting respectful civic dialogue, reducing hyperpolarization, and restoring our democracy. AllSides’ mission is to free people from their filter bubbles so they can better understand the world and each other.

AllSides4Schools.org is dedicated to preparing young people - in particular, middle and high school aged students - to participate thoughtfully in democracy and in life. Media literacy, bias awareness, and respectful dialogue are among the 21st century skills that AllSides4Schools promotes through it innovative programs and tools for educators. AllSides4Schools is a partnership between AllSides (see above) and Living Room Conversations (see below).

Mismatch is a matching platform that enables students, educators, and classrooms - and eventually the wider public - to “find their perfect mismatch” and hold diverse 1:1 or small-group conversations on chosen topics. (Think "Match.com for reds and blues!")

LivingRoomConversations.org provides conversational bridges across issues that tend to divide and separate us as a country.  Living Room Conversations are small-group, diverse, self-facilitated conversations being adopted by classrooms, civic institutions, faith organizations, and many others around the country.

For an even more comprehensive look at the organizations pioneering this emerging movement, check out the Bridge Alliance and review its extensive list of member organizations.

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