Partisanship has been a hallmark of American democracy since the Hamiltonians and Jeffersonians first squared off. But many political thought leaders have begun to worry that this period — with partisans gravitating toward distant poles and the energy of each party coming from their extreme wings — is different. Especially in Congress, where compromise has become a dirty word, the ability to govern on a basic level is in question. Yet a wide majority of Americans hold views that put them somewhere in a broad political center. How did we get here? What would it take to make our politics reflect us more accurately? Underwritten by the Walton Family Foundation.