By Doug Goodman

Are we witnessing the downfall of our society and oblivious to the fact? Over the past several years a new level of distrust, fear and outright hate has infected almost every aspect of our daily lives. This increasing tribal mentality is not based on racial differences, economic status, community location or age. It is founded on our political differences.

What has caused this? I do not believe we woke up one morning and decided anyone with a different opinion is evil. Elected officials did not decide on their own that taking extreme positions and ending all collaboration was the key to re-election. The media did not force anyone to “buy” biased reporting. In other words, who knows what made it all come together. But it did.

Polls have found that political party affiliation and the accompanying presumed opinions on issues influences who we keep as friends, how we treat our co-workers, whether we trust or respect our neighbors and our view of strangers. Partisan differences are the most divisive issue in our nation. The most recent Pew Research poll in December 2017 found 86 percent of those questioned believe there are very strong or strong conflicts between the political parties.

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Doug Goodman is Founder and Executive Director of Nevadans for Election Reform.