I had two complementary meme images cross my Facebook wall this weekend:

Reflecting the tone of this campaign (and the several leading up to it), they spend their energy talking about what they are not, attempting to counter the stereotypes that make modern political discourse so popular and useless.

I hope you have friends from multiple points along the political spectrum (remember, at best only half of the country agrees with you). I would wager none of them match the image of “The Other Side” painted by either campaign. Some day soon, we will all find out which political team won this battle, but remember your neighbors are not The Enemy, and they want things to be better tomorrow than they are today, even if they disagree with you on how that might happen. We’re arguing from different assumptions, and the campaigns have armed each side well with sound bites and fury, signifying nothing.

Two of my favorite quotations for election season:

• Those who disagree with you are not necessarily stupid or insane.—The Economist.com Style Guide
• Every day, like-minded people can and do sort themselves into echo chambers of their own design, leading to wild errors, undue confidence, and unjustified extremism.—Cass R. Sunstein

—jhunterj