We can criticize our political opponents and their actions while avoiding insulting, dehumanizing language. We can focus our criticisms on specific people, instead of speaking as if those traits and actions are present for everyone on the "other side." We can see "taking the high road" in our political interactions not as something we do for other people, not as something we do just to be nice, but as something we do for ourselves, for society, for our country. We can speak persuasively, instead of antagonistically, and we should do that if we truly want to persuade others (and not simply speak to the choir, or signal our virtue to our "team"). We should try to have faith that any injustices we perceive can be remedied via political and legal means. When we speak as if we can't fix the things that bother us using the legal levers of our system (something extreme polarization makes many think), the more we'll add fuel to our divides, and the more likely chaos and violence become. The more we see how our righteous anger begets more righteous anger, the more we'll avoid unnecessarily amplifying our us-vs-them animosity. The more we do these things, more we'll help avoid worst-case scenarios that are lose-lose for all Americans.
