This new year, Idaho can work on overcoming political polarization | Opinion

A New Year should bring hope, yet it also confronts us with an urgent challenge: the widening political divide that threatens our sense of national community.

Recent polling makes clear that dissatisfaction is not confined to one party or one leader. Democrats fare no better than Republicans in public approval. According to summaries of major national polls, institutional and congressional approval for both parties remains below 30%.

This has not always been the case. During the 1990’s and early 2000’s, both major parties had favorable public ratings. Political disagreements existed, but personal attacks were less common. While misinformation was not new, it did not dominate everyday political conversation. Major news networks largely reported events as news.

However, cable outlets increasingly targeted specific ideological audiences. Opinion-driven programming expanded, and “alternative facts” became part of a political identity rather than an exception. The result has been a media environment that often fuels polarization rather than understanding, rewarding outrage while eroding trust.

In response to this growing divide, a national movement, “Better Angels”, later renamed “Braver Angels,” emerged following the divisive 2016 election. Its purpose was simple but ambitious: to bring Americans together across political differences. The organization takes its name from Abraham Lincoln’s appeal to the “better angels of our nature” in his First Inaugural Address on March 4, 1861, delivered on the eve of the Civil War as he sought to guide a fractured nation toward unity.

Today Braver Angels is a national, nonpartisan organization with more than 50,000 dues-paying members and active chapters and alliances in every state. Through volunteer-led workshops and community engagement, Braver Angels works intentionally to depolarize our politics by bringing together people who identify as “red” and “blue,” focused on listening, curiosity and mutual respect.

Here in Idaho, Braver Angels offers a range of skills-based workshops including “Skills for Disagreeing Better,” “Depolarizing Within” and “Families and Politics.” Participants can also access national Zoom offerings such as “Being Red in a Blue Environment,” “Being Blue in a Red Environment,” “Skills for Social Media” and “Braver Faith,” which was developed to address polarization within faith communities.

Experiential encounters include the popular “Red-Blue” and “Common Ground” workshops. These sessions bring together evenly divided groups of conservatives and liberals for structured exercises designed to clarify disagreements, reduce stereotyped thinking and discover common values.

During a time when national division can feel overwhelming, the effects are often felt most painfully close to home. Many have experienced discomfort, or worse, during recent holiday gatherings. These are precisely the moments when the skills promoted by Braver Angels can help defuse conflict, foster empathy and rebuild trust.

There is also a broader lesson for how we consume information. We cannot allow media structures designed to amplify outrage and reinforce division to overwhelm us.

One powerful step toward personal depolarization is intentionally engaging with credible news and perspectives we normally avoid. By becoming acquainted with the news sources of those with whom we disagree, we may not only gain understanding but also find our own opinions challenged, refined or even changed.

As Lincoln reminded us: “We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies.” As we begin a New Year, may we remember those words. May we resist the forces that profit from division, and may we choose — through organizations like Braver Angels and through our own daily interactions — to listen with the intent to understand. In doing so, we may yet renew the shared common ground that has long strengthened our nation.

May this New Year bring hope for a divided nation.

Bob Fontaine served 42 years in education — 23 years in public education and 19 years in Catholic schools. In his retirement years, he serves on the Advisory Council with the Osher Institute for Lifelong Learning at BSU and is an ambassador for Braver Angels.