For the record I never blamed "techies". It's simple: political discourse is dysfunctional (in the sense: conflict-laden, and the conflicts don't get resolved e

For the record I never blamed "techies". It's simple: political discourse is dysfunctional (in the sense: conflict-laden, and the conflicts don't get resolved effectively; that's all dysfunctional means). The best way to improve democracy is for each to improve the way they communicate. 2 necessary skills, that everybody can improve, are: - empathic listening (always using the most generous interpretation of the other person's argument, and then walking back from there to your own opinion, to find common ground) - problem-solving (look at the big picture, find the problem, and think of a good solution) > And in the mean time, when someone tries to blame me for this mess I didn't cause and argued against, I'm going to push back. There's nothing to push back against. This is just political conflict, and it's resolved the same way as any other conflict. If someone calls you crazy, and you reply: "well clearly I'm not crazy!" you may feel right but it's not effective communication.