To me, “partisan politics” means an inability to see the world from another’s point of view. I believe this also reflects a difficulty dealing with uncertainty and ambiguity. Finding a rigid system of thought where answers are easier to come by is more comfortable for most people. This leads to a lack of balance and an inability to have sympathetic discourse with those who have chosen a different script to live by.
As a child, I taught myself to use both hands, believing it would influence my brain by developing both sides. I have become a scientist and an artist, if I may say so. As such, I cannot be either a republican nor a democrat. I would like to believe I think for myself. Each issue deserves its own interpretation. Sometimes I agree with Republicans. Sometimes with Democrats. No doubt this attitude influenced my choice of Integrative Medicine as a specialty.
It saddens me to see such polarization in our country. I hope we can mitigate its toxic consequences. The article below may help. It shows that we may be hard-wired to be liberal or conservative. Still, I believe it is flawed: it does not consider that our brain can be programmed any way we want, with effort and study. So, the article may only reflect the forces, attitudes, philosophies and environment that shaped our brain to be Republican or Democrat.
Reference
“Conservative and liberal attitudes drive polarized neural responses to political content,” J. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 2020;117:27731
