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Part of the job of journalists these days is to monitor the cesspool that is social media, and we can assure you that sifting through the lies, propaganda, and hypocrisy that dominate sites like X is not a pleasant task.

Every day, we are confronted with evidence that the United States seems broken beyond repair right now, and it can be extremely disheartening to think about how much work is necessary for the nation to dig itself out of a deep hole.

Over the past week, however, something interesting happened.

As the World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays turned into an absolute classic, people who can’t agree on much else and usually only comment on politics began talking about baseball instead of the government shutdown and who is to blame for it.

And, no matter which team they were rooting for, they shared a love for the game and an appreciation of the skills of the players.

Maybe we are naïve or overly optimistic, but this gave us some hope that the rift that runs through the country can be overcome.

We are not saying that a thrilling World Series or the feats of a generational talent like two-way sensation Shohei Ohtani can heal the nation.

What we are saying, however, is that there are a lot of things that have the ability to transcend the political differences of Americans and bring them together.

Unfortunately, uniting the country won’t be easy because there are a lot of powerful interests who benefit from this division.

The two political parties, for example.

Democrats and Republicans benefit from Americans not having alternatives to vote for, and they benefit from there being hot-button issues that keep their respective bases enraged.

Take abortion.

It would not be difficult to come up with some common-sense ways to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies, which theoretically could serve the purposes of both sides of that debate. But Republicans have no interest in doing so, and for Democrats, pointing out the GOP’s extremism on the issue is a better way to raise funds and keep their base excited.

Still, it stands to reason that a majority of Americans would support sensible solutions if only they were given an opportunity to put them in place.

And, while those in power are trying to convince voters that they are divided along ideological lines, that’s not true at all.

The real division in the US is between the haves and the have-nots.

Of course, the individuals and companies that have hoarded all of the money really don’t want Americans to think about it like that.

That is why the country’s rich and powerful are engaging in a classic “divide and conquer” strategy. As long as the peasants and worker bees fight amongst themselves over things like transgender rights or who performs at the Super Bowl, they are not going to realize that a few people at the top are depriving them of the opportunities that all Americans want for themselves and their loved ones.

Which is why partisan news organizations like Fox and social media companies with algorithms that sow division are doing their best to tribalize the American people.

Because they know that their bottom lines will be in real danger once all of the have-nots realize who the adversary is they should be uniting against.