Appreciate your input, John. I fully recognize my argument is academic (I don't consider myself an intellectual, so I'm not sure I can claim that description). And yes, I purposely avoided "taking sides" or bringing up any of the practical aspects and challenges of our current state of polarization, which are of course discussed ad nauseam, and deservedly so. I just hope this piece brings a bit of additional perspective to the challenges we face just talking to one another. I actually had a difficult political conversation with a loved one today, after publishing this article, and lo and behold, I held my temper, they held theirs, and we built a tiny bridge that was a long time coming.