It’s one of life’s great ironies.

Love is easier and infinitely more rewarding than hate yet in America today, hate is the headline act.

Fear and insecurity make it easier to snarl than to listen.

Our tribal wiring, once useful for survival, now powers endless us vs. them battles in Congress, cable news and comment sections.

Negativity sticks, especially when political campaigns and social media algorithms pump it like cheap gas on a fire.

Love, meanwhile, asks for courage, patience and empathy…three qualities rarely seen in a televised debate or espoused by most politicians.

But here is the kicker. Hate may dominate the noise, but it doesn’t build anything.

Love does.

Families, friendships, small acts of decency, even movements for justice, these are love at work.

For all the shouting, it is still love, not hate, that keeps this messy democracy from dramatically coming apart at the seams.