Mr. President, officers and members of the society, friends, and guests:

It is an honor and a pleasure to address you as the American Whig-Cliosophic Society convenes for another year in its long and illustrious history.

This is the second consecutive year that I have spoken to your Society.  Last year, I was able to stay for the entirety of your debate.  I was impressed by the quality and civility of the arguments put forward. 

I was even more heartened, however, that you mingled afterwards, enjoying one another’s company across differences and party lines.  If perhaps that does not seem much of an achievement, let me take a moment to explain why it is.

America is experiencing a civic crisis.  One of the best short articles on the topic was published in 2020 by Eli Finkel and fourteen other social scientists.  It is entitled, “Political Sectarianism in America.”^[1]

Finkel and his co-authors review evidence showing that Americans are riven by political hatred for one another.  They report that by 2017, “out-of-party hate was stronger in America than any other nation.”^[2]

In America, Republicans and Democrats do not simply disagree with one another; they dislike, disrespect, and fear one another.  This condition, which many political scientists call “affective polarization,” has disturbing implications.  It means that Republicans and Democrats do not like to hire people from the other party. They do not want their children to marry people from the other party.  And, of course, they have a hard time talking civilly or finding common ground.

These toxic divisions are putting our democracy in peril.

This problem, I want to be clear, is an American problem, not a problem of college students in particular.  Nevertheless, when I discuss the topic of affective polarization with people, they often recommend that college students have more debates, so they can be exposed to competing viewpoints.

I agree that debates are a good thing, so when somebody makes this suggestion, I tell them about Whig-Clio.  There is, however, little or no evidence to suggest that debates can overcome affective polarization.  Indeed, there is some evidence to the contrary:  when people learn more about what those in the other party think, they hate them even more!^[3]

If we want to defeat the polarization that is poisoning our civic life, social interactions across differences are likely to be a more powerful antidote than debates.  That is why I am so heartened by the shared community that was evident when I visited your society last year.

As you begin a new year, then, I hope that you will continue to engage in high quality and illuminating arguments about topics that matter.  I hope, too, that you will continue to enjoy one another’s company and find both common ground and friendship with those who participate in this venerable Society.

Thank you and best wishes for the year ahead.

[1] Eli Finkel at al, “Political Sectarianism in America,” Science, Vol. 370, pp. 533-536 (October 10, 2020).

[2]Id. at 533 (October 10, 2020), citing L. Boxell et al.,“Cross-country trends in affective polarization (no. w26669),” National Bureau of Economic Research; www.nber.org/papers/w26669 (2020).

[3]  See, e.g., Ezra Klein, “Why the Media is so Polarized—and how it polarizes us,” excerpted in Vox, Jan 28, 2020 from Why We’re Polarized.