How do we find a middle ground again?

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I was born in 1959. My earliest memories are of an America unified and energized by the race for space and the idea of sending a man to the moon. We suffered a deep but unifying tragedy when JFK was shot, and I think that's the last time I can recall relative peace among the many factions that make up our society (with the noteworthy exception of an all-too-brief time after 9/11.) Viet Nam, Watergate, Iran-Conta, MLK, RFK, many different events have caused protest and debate, even violent uprising. I don't think any of that has been a greater threat to our Republic's survival than the insidious machinations of the paid professionals who run our political campaigns today. Somewhere back in the 80's, somebody figured out that it was easier to get people to vote for their candidate if they made them irrationally fear the opponent. No need to outline a vision or policies, just come up with the biggest boogeyman you can find and tie him around the other guy's neck! (Remember Willie Horton?) Since then, it seems every election cycle sinks to a new low in pandering, misinformation, and pointless examination and misinterpretation of the minutae of every candidate's life. Politicians and the hacks who get them elected spend tens of millions of dollars to make you afraid of....GASP!.... your next-door neighbor. They throw out red herrings like school prayer and abstinence so we don't put our heads together and figure out how badly they've screwed everything up. They whip up the right wingers by decrying how immoral the left is, and they whip up the left by talking about federal dollars for church-based programs. The media plays right along by exploiting the most inflammatory two sentences uttered by anyone, completely out of context. Lamentably, the American Electorate is collectively dumb as hell and falls for it every freakin' time. How do we get past this professionally-sown discord and distrust? How do we move past the artificial divides that serve the basest of political purposes? Throughout America, we all face genuine problems that threaten our kid's futures, our family's safety, our country's strength - and they have nothing to do with who your neighbor wants to marry or whether or not the words "under god" belong in the Pledge of Allegiance! The hell-hounds who bay a message of "hate your neighbor" are destroying the very fabric of American civic life, thread by thread. Can we shut them up and revive it, or are they singing our society's swan song?