I once watched a man stand at a public meeting and make a suggestion on how to solve the problem before the group.

 

The officials at the front of the room asked him several questions, and he answered them with common sense and a clear understanding of the situation.

 

A few members of the audience stood to add their support and small suggestions to improve his idea.

 

The room was moving toward consensus, when another participant asked if the speaker was a Republican.

 

When he answered that he was a registered Democrat, the mood in the room changed.

 

A few argued with him (making the point that they were Republicans, which literally had nothing to do with the topic at hand).

 

This fueled anger among Democrats and within minutes the room was deeply divided.

 

The official running the meeting took the floor and pointed out to everyone that the man's idea had been almost universally supported before his political affiliation was mentioned, and tried to get the group back to discussing the merits of the idea.

 

But it was too late: the Republicans in the room now disliked his idea and the Democrats supported it.

 

Many had to change their minds to get to this point, but it seems that was easy once they knew which party he belonged to.

 

This kind of divisiveness is all too common.