Chapter Twelve: Can't We All Disagree More Constructively? Summary and Analysis

Political campaigns are rough and tumble. Running for office is a highly competitive undertaking with very high stakes. But does it have to be as nasty as it is? With the influx of millions and even billions of dollars into campaigns, things are deteriorating and the country is becoming more politically polarized. There has been a shift toward the tribal mentality which began in the 1990s when politicians were encouraged not to cross the aisle in compromise. This culminated in 2011 when the parties would not agree on a routine bill to raise the debt ceiling. This failure led to a downgrading of America's credit rating, something that could have been easily avoided through cooperation.

Political analysts since the days of Marx assumed that people chose political ideologies...