𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐎𝐮𝐫 𝐏𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐑𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐀𝐬 𝐁𝐚𝐝 𝐀𝐬 𝐖𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐀𝐫𝐞?
For the great majority of my life I had no interest in politics. It was not until after 9/11 that I had any interest whatsoever in anything any politician had to say. The only thing about politics I was certain of was that I didn’t want anything to do with politics. For many that I knew, their stories were similar. In the past decade, or decade and a half, that has steadily been changing. People across the political spectrum are becoming more entrenched in their political beliefs, maybe overconfident in their beliefs, and allowing their political beliefs to become part of their core identities. For some, lines have been drawn and their political rivals are now thought of as enemies. I believe though, the question must be asked; are our political rivals as bad as we think they are?
𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐢𝐬 𝐃𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐥 𝐅. 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐞?
A short time back I came across a fascinating article when searching topics for the podcast. It was a great bonus when I discovered the organization Braver Angels was mentioned in the article. I knew immediately that the author of “Your political rivals aren’t as bad as you think – here’s how misunderstandings amplify hostility”, found at theConversation.com, was someone who I wanted to speak with.

𝑳𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒏 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑫𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒆𝒍 𝑭. 𝑺𝒕𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒃𝒚 𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒄𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒆𝒑𝒊𝒔𝒐𝒅𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝑫𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝑻𝒉𝒆𝑯𝒂𝒕𝒆.𝒄𝒐𝒎.