One of the best antidotes to polarization is open, respectful dialogue. How can we come together if we aren’t engaging with each other? That’s especially true of our elected officials, and so we are encouraged by the recent uptick in town halls.

What disheartens us is that these opportunities for genuine discourse are being hijacked by extremists and people whose behavior is disruptive and unproductive.

Congressman Sean Casten held one such town hall last week. He and other attendees were disrupted by unruly, uncivil pro-Palestinian protesters who attempted to take over the meeting to push their agenda.

“People did not come here to hear you,” Casten said at one point. “Show some respect for the people in this district.”

Several attendees shouted at the congressman, with one actually storming the stage to confront him. “You are the most soulless piece of crap I’ve ever seen!” he yelled, after berating Casten for his “people being slaughtered.” Police advised Casten to end the event early. The spectacle became the focus of national news, with clips appearing on CNN and elsewhere.

Tensions are at a boiling point over everything from the unresolved Israel-Palestine conflict to the economy to the Department of Government Efficiency. Speaking of which, another worrying trend is the rise in politically motivated property crimes targeting Tesla. A 27-year-old Buffalo Grove woman was arrested and charged earlier this month for allegedly vandalizing a Tesla service center in the northwest suburbs. This is part of a larger national trend of violence against the Elon Musk-owned EV maker. Earlier this month, footage showed Teslas on set on fire at a Las Vegas service center.

Torching privately owned vehicles is not a productive form of political speech. Our freedom of speech carries with it great personal responsibility, something many are forgetting as they descend into selfish acts of destruction.

Perhaps it’s unsurprising that the U.S. has fallen to its lowest-ever ranking in the World Happiness Report. Among the major contributors to happiness? A belief in the kindness of others.

Righteous anger is one thing. Hate and chaotic disruption are quite another. We’d encourage those angered and frustrated by current events to channel this anger into something productive. Screaming and petty crimes don’t compel political change, but running for office, contacting your congresspeople and raising awareness through legitimate means — such as submitting your opinion to this newspaper — can.

And with political polarization at a boiling point, we also urge our elected officials — both Republicans and Democrats — to find ways to come together, and to bring voters along with them. Town halls are an important step, but more civil rhetoric must follow.

We ask you: Stop conditioning us to view our neighbors as our enemies. This political tactic may help with partisan reelection bids, but it’s toxic for our society and emboldens people to follow their worst instincts. It’s true that a house divided cannot stand. We must not let political disagreements break us from within.

Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis wrote in his famous 1927 concurring opinion in Whitney v. California that “if there be time to expose through discussion, the falsehoods and fallacies, to avert the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence.”

This sentiment holds true today. We need to keep talking to one another. And we must do so in good faith — not spiteful anger.

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