American Politics and the Yogic Verdict

Hopping from one university event to another in the USA, I presented to my audiences this striking insight from an academic study referred to by the New York Times:
Forty-two percent of the people in each of the two political parties regard their opposition as “downright evil.”
Nearly 20 percent of both Democrats and Republicans believe that their political adversaries “lack the traits to be considered fully human — they behave like animals.”
Roughly 20 percent of Democrats and 16 percent of Republicans say that the world would be better off if large numbers of the other party died.
The yogic verdict: When people, misled, identify with the body as the self, there can never be genuine love, lasting peace, and realistic harmony.

Devamrita Swami