Culture war is inevitable, because it’s in the nature of democratic, pluralistic society. It only ends when one side wins, by force or force of reason. As all drill sergeants know, you prepare your troops to move in for the kill by first dehumanizing the enemy.

If we keep the humanity of our opponents squarely in front of us – as Obama, to his great credit, seems determined to do – we can keep the culture-war casualty count low. That’s about the best we can hope for.