The Polarization Myth: America's Surprising Consensus on Race, Schools, and Sex

If you don’t like the idea of a boy who says he is a girl using the girls’ bathroom, are you out of step with the mainstream? If diversity, equity, and inclusion programs strike you as discriminatory, are you just racist? Are you a prude if you do not want sexually explicit books about “gender” in your child’s school library? 

“Experts” and the radical left want you to think that on these hot-button issues, Americans are split down the middle—polarized. They want you to think that at least half of your fellow citizens hold views that only yesterday everyone considered crazy. And they want to make you afraid of not being on the “enlightened” side.

But it turns out that this polarization is a myth.

With clarity and optimism, Jonathan Butcher dismantles the myth of a fractured nation, showing how our underlying agreement on character, virtue, and our shared sense of national identity can guide lawmakers and communities toward policies that help everyone have a chance at the good life and the American Dream. 

In a time when headlines scream of division and mutual antagonism, The Polarization Myth offers a refreshing perspective: Americans are more united than you think. Drawing from a survey of over 2,000 citizens along with robust research, Butcher uncovers a surprising consensus on today’s most contentious issues—from education and civics to race and gender.

Jonathan Butcher is the Will Skillman Fellow in Education at The Heritage Foundation. He is the author of Splintered: Critical Race Theory and the Progressive War on Truth (Post Hill/Bombardier Books, April 2022). He co-edited and wrote chapters in The Critical Classroom (The Heritage Foundation, 2022), discussing the racial prejudice that comes from the application of critical race theory in K-12 schools. Jonathan co-edited and wrote chapters in the book The Not-So-Great Society (Heritage Foundation, 2019), which provides conservative solutions to the problems created by the ever-expanding federal footprint in preschool, K-12, and higher education. In 2021, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster nominated Jonathan to serve on the board of the South Carolina Public Charter School District, a statewide charter school authorizer.