This TED Talk features Caitlin Kastramani and Lauren Arledge, recorded live at TEDx Mile High 2017.

The election of 2016 felt different.

Political conversations with our family and friends uncovered a level of polarization that many of us had not previously experienced. People who we always

thought were reasonable and intelligent, seemed like strangers. We said to ourselves, how could you think

that? I thought you were smart. Caitlin and I met in the summer of 2011, and we bonded around

being working moms and trying to keep our very energetic boys busy.

And we soon found out we had almost everything in common.

From our love of Colorado to our love of sushi, there wasn't much we didn't agree on.

We also discovered that we share a deep love of this country and feel a responsibility to be politically active,

but no one's perfect.

And I soon found out two disappointing things about Caitlin.

First, she hates camping.

I think camping is the worst.

So there would not be any joint camping trips in our future. The second thing

is that she's politically active, all right, as a conservative. I may hate camping, but I love

politics. I listen to conservative talk radio just about every day, and I volunteered for a few

different conservative political campaigns.

And I'd say I'm a little to the left, like all the way to the left. I've always been

interested in politics. I was a political science major, and I worked as a community organizer

and on a congressional campaign. So as Lauren and I were getting to know each other, it was right in the

middle of that 2012 presidential campaign. And most Lauren and I were getting to know each other, it was right in the middle of that

2012 presidential campaign. And most of our early political conversations were really just based

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