Today we welcome Chris and Kim Watson, two active members of Braver Angels who find themselves on different sides of the aisle, but within their marriage. One of the core functions of politics is to work towards figuring out our social contracts with each other… What are our rules as we work, play and all live together. Marriage is similar in that we’re constantly working on how we live together in our homes - so very political, just on a much smaller scale. Mary and I were both very curious to learn from Chris and Kim what they have learned from each other while being on opposite sides of politics.

The vitriol in American politics was a problem long before Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton and the 2020 election. Affective political polarization (not only disagreement on issues but personal contempt and distrust) has been growing between us for at least 25 years, and today there is evidence to suggest that we are now as polarized as we have been since the Civil War.