"Building Bridges"

Anyone involved with national politics these days who says they want to build bridges with the other side is probably lying. Conventional wisdom these days says they can't build support for their own purposes by painting the most accurate possible picture of the opposition. Public figures today build their support by demeaning, dehumanizing, and demonizing their opponents. Assuming our age continues to get more polarized, no politician will be rewarded with donations or votes by painting the enemy in any light but the most unflattering one. I'm sure it's possible to go too far in dehumanizing one's opponents, with the consequence that one's supporters or potential supporters will turn away. But the threshold for that kind of thing has changed dramatically from decades past. With significantly lowered standards of decency and dignity, national politicians sadly seem to have little to lose by going really negative on their opponents.