Minnesota Institute of Public Health

Democracy, it is said, is slow and messy.

Based on the principle that an open dialog of divergent viewpoints renders a healthy and helpful truth, America seems to work. But it's painful at times.

Political bickering is inevitable, but we tolerate it in the hope that collectively we will keep finding a better way. Hopefully more often than not we emerge above political party positioning and from that build a stronger way of life.

It gets distasteful, and the debaters, like the voters, occasionally spring a leak. It can get ugly.

Said Thomas Jefferson, "If I could not go to heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all."

In heated debate, the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-New York) once barked at an opponent, "You are entitled to your own opinion; you are NOT entitled to your own facts!"

I believe we can disagree without being disagreeable. Bickering is like flossing your teeth or doing your tax returns: unpleasant but necessary part of the process.

MIPH sees public health and civics as inseparable.

How do you mitigate bickering?

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