Very well written piece, lots of supporting data. However- it bears pointing out the focusing on norms and compromise and mutual understanding is a squarely liberal stance. Remember the John Stewart “Rally to Restore Sanity” which basically made the same points as the article. And unfortunately, Obama discovered that the political right was decidedly unwilling to reciprocate any sort of offers to compromise. So it seems that unless both sides are ready to back down, we are stuck where we are.