How to Have Political Peace this Christmas

Despite worries about the new Omicron variant of COVID, a lot of Americans are not ready to have a second Christmas in a row without being with their families.

Everyone may be tired of the pandemic and while we still have to be careful, there will be more families and friends getting together this year. But a new study suggests that the bigger issue than the spread of the virus, may be the widening of the political divide.

Researchers at Cornell University have found that there may be an actual “tipping point” where no issue imaginable can unite Republicans and Democrats again. According to their findings, extreme polarization can become irreversible.

The study looked at the behavior of a polarized political group — like the current U.S. Senate — and they say it showed that even an attack by a foreign power or another pandemic would not heal the political divide.

One of the study’s authors compares it to a meltdown in a nuclear reactor…when up to a point, technicians can bring the core temperature back down but if they can’t, there is a runaway reaction that cannot be stopped.

He says their study shows that something very similar can happen in a political reactor and "it’s up to us to bring the political temperature back down before it is too late.”

Something to think about as we prepare for the Christmas celebration of "peace on earth and good will" to others.

(Photo Getty Images)