Politics in America has become so polarized in recent years that one wonders if there an effective bipartisan government is going the way of the passenger train and 25-cent a gallon gasoline. Can we have a government where representatives debate, listen to each other, come up with compromises, or are we fated to have more of what we have today, where politicians get elected by appealing to the most radical wings of their parties, where moderate members who don’t toe the party’s new line are jettisoned?

It is true for both Democrats and Republicans. Donald Trump holds such command of his base that Republicans who want to get elected must buy into and swear to the falsehoods he is spreading about the 2020 presidential election. Democrats are required to adopt a line of progressive, socialist thought to prove they care about the people they want to vote for them. The farther apart they drift, the less rapport and collegiality they have. Working the other side of the aisle is likely to get one challenged in the primaries by a new true believer.

But we are heartened by the Virginia governor’s race, where Republican Glenn Youngkin was successful, despite holding Trump at arms length. He campaigned on issues important to the voters and proposed a positive path. He was able to draw voters who had voted for Biden.

If Yoiungkin’s example can be followed in other states, there is hope that perhaps we can rediscover the vast middle ground that has been abandoned in our political arenas.