According to Pew Research Center, 70% of politically active Democrats and 62% of Republicans say they’re “afraid” of the other party. That report was two years ago.

“Opinion polls began to note the intensity of political separation during George W. Bush’s presidency. It widened through the Obama years. We know where we are now,” writes Daniel Henninger in the WSJ.

Liberals remain incredulous at Mr. Trump’s election. But nearly half the electorate voted for him, and among the reasons is that today a lot of people—across all income classes—feel they are really being jammed by the culture. Progressive jurisprudence had a lot to do with this. Liberals won their share of court decisions, but at a price: The courts in America became an agent of social discord.

It would be good for the country’s stability if a Kavanaugh Court disincentivized the left from using the courts to push the far edges of the social envelope. This is not about turning back the clock. It is about how best to resolve bitter social and cultural disputes in the future. It is about no longer using the courts to make triumphal moral claims against the majority.

Advocates for social change involving race, gender, identity and such will have to convince representative majorities, elected by voters, to agree with their point of view. Unlike in the past four decades, the high court will more often weigh in after, not before, the political process has happened.

The United States needs to settle down politically. Some day the sitting president may see the value in that for his own legacy. This nomination is a good start. A Kavanaugh Court will provide the country with a needed pause.

Read more here.