Robert Talisse (my philosophy prof many years ago) strikes me as one of the more insightful analysts of polarization and democracy in the US, and his recent book "Overdoing Democracy" is part of what inspired Seabird. Here he summarizes his newest book on how polarization can be managed, starting with one's self and one's allies.
Democracy and the polarization trap
The extreme polarization of European and American politics is now widely seen as a threat to democracy. But polarization is often misunderstood as simply political divisiveness that can be resolved if only the two sides came together to find common ground. That’s wrong. Polarization isn’t about partisan animosity or a lack of common ground. It’s about a cognitive distortion that happens when we retreat to our in-groups. Polarization ultimately poisons our relations with our own political side, making us intolerant of any disagreement. To battle polarization, then, we need to start with becoming used to disagreeing with our political allies, argued Robert Tallise.
iai.tv