Liberals and Conservatives: Civil Discourse or Family Feud? During the American Civil War, families were famously torn apart by the issue of slavery, and brothers, enlisting on opposite sides in the war that followed, literally killed each other over a political disagreement as regrettable as it was fundamental. The divisions in American political opinion today may not be as severe they were then, but as all of us know who have had unhappy experiences at family Thanksgiving feasts, the warnings our grandparents gave us about not discussing politics and religion lack the power over us that, in less divisive times, they once may have had.

Democratic Perspective’s Mike Cosentino and Steve Williamson welcome Mike’s old friend Chuck Vacanti to today’s show. Chuck and Mike grew up together, have known each other all their lives, but their political opinions now place them on opposite sides of our national liberal-conservative disagreements. Listen as they discuss the issues that divide them, and the role civility has played — and continues to play — in moderating their differences.

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