Forget Paul Bunyan. There’s a bigger American myth that needs to be busted, and you know it all too well: America is divided. Pick a tribe. Stop thinking.

For all the florid journalistic commentary about voter polarization, extensive empirical studies have shown that the American electorate is no more polarized today than it was in the 1970s. What's changed is that the parties have sorted: Democrats have become more homogeneously liberal, Republicans more homogeneously conservative.

If the economy is always the pre-eminent issue in American politics, then the employment report out today, combined with the news that wages are growing most strongly for the working class, ought to be the conditions for social rest. Instead, we have the highest degree of social unrest since the late 1960s, with political violence and extreme rhetoric dominating the scene. 

Beginning in the mid-20th century, three men unfailingly met for breakfast every Tuesday in the coffee shop at the old Hotel Utah—now the immaculately preserved Joseph Smith Memorial Building east of Temple Square.

Conventional wisdom about presidential campaign strategy changed around the turn of the current century. Traditionally, candidates were advised to move to the center in the general election campaign after catering to the party bases in the primaries. Not anymore. George W. Bush’s two presidential campaigns exemplify the shift.

The House Democratic majority’s vote last week to impeach President Donald Trump — and the Senate Republican majority’s expected acquittal next year — reflect a deep partisan divide in America that research shows has grown to near-peak levels.

America’s widening political divide stands out above other nations, according to a new cross-country polarization study by Stanford University economists.

While the campus grievance mongers cry for Justice! and continue their drive for power and safe spaces, I note an extraordinary story in the latest issue of Stanford, the bimonthly magazine of the Stanford Alumni Association.

Americans today are living in a highly polarized time. Elected officials are at each other’s throats, and it seems like Congress can’t agree on anything. However, it’s politicians who are driving this era of polarization, not the American public. With the primaries underway and the 2020 election on the way, it’s time politicians stop blaming one another and work together for America’s sake.