On Wednesday I had the opportunity to sit in on an intellectually stimulating conversation with Professor Kenneth Roberts as we discussed how to overcome polarization in America. He took us through the historical voting patterns of Republicans and Democrats, and surprisingly, Dems and Repubs have not always voted so unilaterally in the past. Another fact that he shared that was particularly troubling was the idea of “sports team” politics, in which many people have more hate for the opposite party than they have a love for their own party. Roberts then opened up the conversation, inviting us to talk about our experience with political polarization and how Americans or us, personally, can go about lessening this abhorrence that both parties seem to have for each other. One woman shared her experience, stating that when she was younger, during the holidays her family would fight with each other over their different political views, but now, her family doesn’t even discuss such views at all. I agreed with her in the respect that because politics has the ability to be a controversial topic, many people don’t have the desire to approach the topic in the first place. I, however, think it’s important to talk to people about different political views, as I think it would help us to understand that those who think differently than us are not necessarily “bad people.” Just last summer we learned that our close family friends had voted for President Trump of whom we are not supporters. Although that was a subject of contention for a brief moment, we didn’t cease being friends, and I think it helped to open both of our different perceptions.