The NewYork Times' Tom Friedman wanders away from his area of competence - foreign policy - and writes in support of political centrism, of splitting the difference between conservatives and liberals on a range of issues facing the U.S.
Alas Tom, centrism is so yesterday. That's not how we roll in the 21st century. We are polarized, and becoming more so. Not just in our politics but also in our places of residence and our friendships.
Increasingly we feel serious dislike for those with whom we disagree politically. They become the "other" whom we blame for whatever is wrong with society - viewing them as not merely wrong but evil.
If I had the gumption to write futurist fiction I'd consider a novel about a future U.S splitting up like India and Pakistan. Splitting regions along political philosophy fault lines.
I'd track the lives of several families who, as partition loomed, find themselves on the "wrong" side of the divide as they agonize about staying put or migrating to someplace simpatico. It would be fun to imagine the expected and unexpected outcomes on both sides of the divide. A not-bad working title would be "Brave New Worlds," an obvious homage to Aldous Huxley.
