Kwame Anthony Appiah: One of the things that I think has depressed me most about our political system in the last decade or so has been the incredible partisanship. There is nothing wrong with people fighting about issues and having different views about them, and arguing vigorously for their point of view. But opposing a point of view simply because it's the point of view of the other party, right? That's bad.
Thomas Jefferson: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.
Female Speaker: They ought to laugh for that Ambrielle but not about to laugh for the leading person, unless they are American and they have a lot of money.
Female Speaker: That was a moral value. Moral values, we don't have to do anything but live right there and see what the morals they have dropped in this country, do we?
America is fighting two wars and witnessing a large-scale government takeover of the financial system. We are experiencing a crisis in energy, education, housing, social security, health care and international affairs.
Female Speaker: You can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska.
Sen. Joseph Biden: You cannot go to a 7-11 or a Dunkin Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I'm not joking.
Surviving and thriving in our world today requires planning, creativity, and a global mindset.
Peter Thiel: We are headed towards 20-30 years of incredible chaos and turmoil.
In short, it requires a new way of thinking.
Yet...
Howard Wolfson: On Iraq, on the economy, on health-care, on global warming, there is no real issue where the parties have dream, I mean their distinctions are huge.
Big Think surveyed the level of dialogue between the two major political parties.
Here's what we found.
Roger Villere: This is where the real people live. These are the people that are connected with the everyday people that make this country work.
Male Speaker: Barack Obama needs to return to Illinois in the senate and get some experience and get out and live in the real world for a few years and get out that elitist conclave.
Cenk Uygur: They called Barack Obama an elitist and they pretended the republic is on their side. Cindy McCain, her heart-warming story when she was a kid is she helped her dad, they got a several hundred dollar fountain in front of their mansion.
Howard Fineman: John McCain spurned one establishment but ended up ironically embracing the other which is the cultural conservatives. No question about it.
Political parties engaged in fierce ideological battles.
Male Speaker: And the republican party understands better what's in the Bible of a democratic party.
Female Speaker: They demonstrate it better, yes.
Female Speaker: There is no reason to kill an unborn baby. God wants that, republicans want that.
Male Speaker: Democrats want that?
Female Speaker: It seems like it is.
Immersed in class warfare.
Male Speaker: John McCain like, he's a real guy. You know he's had a real life. Don't think he eats arugula. I've seen him do hot dogs and hamburgers, but no arugula.
Female Speaker: This is The Huffington Post Oasis.
Male Speaker: This is a chocolate smoothie, but a healthy chocolate smoothie. It has got soy milk, a raw organic fair trade cocoa powder.
And more interested in fighting each other than solving real problems.
Female Speaker: Everything that's happening out in the world today is happening because there is a sense of an us against them, there is sense of other risk.
Roland Martin: You guys are under attack and you are responding with times. It doesn't work. I mean you are in the heat of battle.
Chuck Schumer: To win this race above all Obama needs a sword and a shield. The shield which is secondary is to fend off with vigor and strength the attack. But the most important thing is the sword.
John McCain: Stand up, stand up, stand up and fight.
When the election is over. Who will ensure. Maverick isn't just a word and change is real?
Today's problems require working together to create and implement the best ideas.
Smart people everywhere are taking public policy into their own hands.
And Big Think is creating a website where the best ideas can live and grow.
Harvey Mansfield: And that is based on ideas.
Deepak Chopra: We have enough intelligence now to remove radical poverty in all parts of the world.
Jonathan Haidt: The trick for the future is to find ways to recreate what used to be called the vital center.
Kwame Anthony: One question that I think it's always useful to us is if I am so sure I am right, how come she is so sure she is right too?
Avaan Hirsi Ali: There is always a possibility to make change.
Get to know smart ideas from the world's leading experts. And Share your own at bigthink.com.
Melissa Harris Lacewell: The big part of democracy is being the leader yourself.
Now is the time for action.
What's your plan?
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