What you can do personally

• Learn about moral psychology and the processes that lead to self-righteous incivility.
• Model political civility in your own speech and behavior. Be politically active, criticize policies and parties, but be careful about criticizing people and ascribing base motives to explain their political actions.
• Avoid exposing yourself to news and entertainment programs that promote uncivil political "debate." Diana Mutz [link to paper], a political scientist at the University of Pennsylvania, has found that exposure to uncivil debate (as opposed to civil debate) decreases trust in government and in the political process. It alienates voters as it entertains them, and is therefore likley to undercut democratic participation.

What you can do politically

• Support more civil, inspiring, divide-bridging candidates at all levels of government.
• Vote here for the most and least civil candidates on both sides! Help us keep a running tally of the U.S. Presidential election. [Link to come]
• [others? Please send suggestions to haidt@virginia.edu]

What you can do financially

This website does not take donations. But we urge you to support organizations and individuals that are working to reduce incivility and to increase understanding across the political divide. These include:

• Common cause, a non-partisan advocacy group that lobbies for electoral reforms
• [others? Please send suggestions to haidt@virginia.edu]