That is an excellent place to begin. The world has become more complex and everyone in it has become more intertwined than anyone imagined. In fact, we are just learning how enmeshed we are with each other. In one city it was discovered that 200 people became infected with the virus by just four people.

I think your recommendations are excellent, but they are two steps away from where the US electorate is at right now. The first step would be that people need to find some way of agreeing upon how to define “the truth.” Yes, there are issues that are important, but when one side is telling you that the other side is raping and eating babies, and that the media won’t report it, the discussion can be difficult.

At the moment, we don’t even have any way to begin the process of finding common ground. To me, it seems that many people have traded their critical thinking skills in order to be included in group that demands a tight affiliation. In order to stay included you have to buy into the whole ideology. Ask too many questions and a person will be rejected and isolated.

Still, I agree with you that politics should, and can be a done in a very moral and just manner. All it takes is for many moral and just people, even if they disagree on issues, to put the effort in to weed out the fanatics who lie, cheat and demonize the opposition. It has become too easy to let things slip to the lowest common denominator. And the divisions certainly have been encouraged by media, and also by many of those who seek power. Those are the people who should be shunned.