The debacle of January 6, 2021—a mob of rightwing extremists incited by the President to attack the U.S. Capitol—is a raw image of the danger confronting a deeply divided people. President-elect Biden will have to work hard to keep a coalition together for advancing a bold agenda that is likely to encounter Republican obstructionism. More than civility alone is required to meet the challenge at hand.
Factionalism, dissension, and polarization to the point of political dysfunction (some say at the risk of disunion) is the disorder we must allay if we hope to secure the future. The election of 2020 left a riven nation in limbo. This is the moment to seek a democratic way forward.
Remedying alienation is not a matter of setting differences aside. It does require abandoning divisive demonizing, however, and fostering a sufficiency of political cohesion to contest differences constructively. (more…)