[zksmk]

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned yet a key (admittedly not only) part in making the US so polarized: first past the post voting system which inevitably leads to a two party system. Good luck having nuance in that system. It literally pits people against each other in two umbrella teams. The internet's echo chamber mechanic has only amplified this.

People need to challenge their own beliefs more often. You vote Democrat? Whatever. Who do you vote for in the primaries? Nobody cares... they should.

It might open the eyes to the foundations of disagreement not being dehumanizing.

[supreme_loquat]

I did actually touch on it briefly in [1] but it was not my only focus so perhaps you missed it. But I fully agree our voting system is one of the primary reasons for our polarization (social media is probably another but that's mainly an instinctual hypothesis). Unfortunately the alternative with the most support currently is ranked choice/IRV which does not really solve polarization (perhaps it might help it due to external societal factors, but in a mathematical vacuum I believe IRV is just as polarizing as first past the post). As far as single winner methods go, approval and STAR are gaining momentum and they do address polarization, so if one of these catches on I expect it to help slowly improve our current situation.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29550838

[zksmk]

Yup, I've missed it somehow. I'm also a fan of approval and particularly star voting compared to IRV. It's good they're gaining ground.

[everybodyknows]

> Who do you vote for in the primaries? Nobody cares... they should.

This is a mechanism that in the past limited polarization at the final election. Now, there's ideological policing-by-harassment within both parties.