The Political Polarization Index (The US)

The graph is from this paper by Marina Azzimonti, she explains

I follow a similar methodology to that in Baker, Bloom, and Davis (2013) in constructing the po- litical polarization index (PPI). In particular, I use a search-based approach that measures the fre- quency of newspaper coverage of articles reporting political disagreement about government policy. The identification assumption underlying the index is that greater media-coverage of ideologically divisive issues or legislative gridlocks is associated with higher polarization episodes (p. 3).

Weber on Politics

Anyone who wishes to engage in politics at all, and particularly anyone who wishes to practice it as profession, must become conscious of these ethical paradoxes and of his own responsibility for what might become of him under the pressure they exert. For, I repeat, he is entering into relations with the satanic powers that lurk in every act of violence. P. 90.

From Politics as Vocation.