More than any time in recent decades, American politics are deeply divided. Compromise is a dirty word.
"The way that we're running the country is that we're not running the country," says our guest Mark Gerzon, author of the new book, "The Reunited States of America."
As President of Mediators Foundation, the group he founded 25 years ago, Mark has brought people together in conflict zones around the world Concerned about increasing polarization in the U.S., Mark is working on the ideological frontier between left and right.
"We can work together to solve the problems we all face in a country we all love," Gerzon tells us on this episode of "How Do We Fix It?" But what we have now is a permanent campaign by both parties. "And after election day they start the next campaign."
"We can't solve any of the problems we face if we're tearing each other down the whole time."
Mark's fixes include urging individual citizens to engage in discussions with people we don't agree with, asking questions about what they think, rather than stating fixed opinions.
"Do you want to get drunk on being right and enjoy that feeling of being with the people you agree with and bad mouth the people you don't?," asks Mark.
News media coverage, he says, is biased in favor of controversy, contests and clashes.
"There's a whole America out there that's not getting any news coverage. And that's the America where Americans work together."
Resources for compromise and open-minded dialog include: livingroomconversations.org, bridgealliance.us, everyday-democracy.org, democracyfund.org