Listen, you Rachel Maddow wannabe, put aside your politics this Thanksgiving and take a seat at dinner next to your uncle, the Sean Hannity wannabe…. We are told we are a divided country…. But we are not as divided as we may think … Consider where we stand on Barack Obama…. his performance [is] approved by nine out of 10 Democrats but by just one in 10 Republicans. No other president in at least half a century ever suffered from such a big gap…. In 1960, about five per cent of Americans would have been upset if their child married someone from another party … In 2010, that rose to nearly 40 per cent.

…[W]e disagree most deeply on cultural issues, such as gay marriage and abortion, but … studies show most Americans are far more concerned about practical matters such as jobs, taxes and crime. The problem for most Americans, says John Gastil, professor of communications at Penn State, is that they don’t have the time or inclination to become experts on complicated issues like the economy, so they turn to others for guidance. And the people they turn to most, naturally, are those who share their “broad cultural outlook”. So if a politician shares a voter’s views on, say, gay marriage, he or she might be trusted to have the right views on economics….

Gastil’s work is devoted to encouraging a jury system approach to public debate … [He] envisions, among other intriguing ideas, a “national deliberation day” during which Americans … get together in small and diverse groups and work through public policy issues…. On this Thanksgiving, one American’s delicious roasted turkey is another American’s tragically slain bird. But both of those people are Americans, with much to be thankful for. — (Nov 21)