As pre-election tensions get heated, are we 'cooking' up a better democracy, or 'burning' it?

There have been many reactions following the assassination attempt of former President Trump. While some have denounced political violence, others have leaned into conspiracy theories and pointing a political finger of blame.

As Mónica Guzmán, senior fellow at Braver Angels (a nonpartisan organization dedicated to political depolarization), told KUOW's Soundside, political differences are part of how our democracy works. But how we handle those differences, how we react, is what impacts our daily lives.

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"Heat in a conversation, a disagreement across differences, politically, heat is good," Guzmán said. "The question is whether you are cooking something, or burning something."

Guzmán argues that modern rhetoric in the United States often burns democracy and just makes things worse. It's an echo of the sort of conversation Guzmán fosters through her work and as host of Braver Angel's podcast, A Braver Way. She challenges people to ask themselves if they are "dehumanizing each other to the extent that we're enabling many of our leaders and politicians to do that even more."

"I think it's conventional knowledge at this point that the violence that we've just seen, can't be disconnected from the rhetoric that has seemingly flourished in our politics in the last many years," she said. "A lot of times we feel powerless to stop it ... there's a lot we can do to watch the tenor, the language, the tone ... Are we dignifying each other by at least listening?

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"We are seeing a nation reacting, processing, there's fear, lots of deep concern. You can feel that everything is shook. And this goes for folks on the far left to the far right, everywhere in between. There are questions about what kind of country are we where assassination attempts are a reality ... I think the question that really comes up for me, in the work that I do, is ... who's going to win this election? ... But there's another question, which is: No matter who wins this election, how can we ensure that our democratic republic will thrive, and will not lose?"

KUOW's Dyer Oxley contributed to this story.