What my politically divided family teaches me | Tami Pyfer

0:02You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day. I'm your host, Elise Hu. Tami Pyfer has decades under her belt as a civic leader and dialogue builder for democracy. She had to look no further than her own dining room for professional insight. It turns out Tami's family is her greatest area of political research.

0:25Tami Pyfer: I have five kids who belong to five political parties. I have an independent, a Democrat, a Democratic socialist, a libertarian, and a Republican. And my husband and I have different political views as well. Like so many of us, Tammy's witnessed her fair share of contentious Thanksgiving dinners. So much so that she had to implement a no-sensitive-topics rule at the table. But even with this new policy, it was impossible not to step on hot coals. Tammy realized the core of her family tension wasn't just disagreement. It was contempt, a feeling that the other person is operating in bad faith. In her mind, no productive conversations come from this place.

1:11But the solution isn't to attack contempt. It's to cultivate its opposite, dignity. In her talk, Tammy explains what makes true dignity and why it may be the key to preserving democracy. That's coming up right after a short break.

1:29This message is brought to you by Apple Card. Ah, fall, that cozy season where we swap the swimwear for sweaters and sunnies for scarves. But before the Halloween decorations are put away or the Thanksgiving table has been set, there's already holly jolly music playing in the grocery store, reminding you that the year is coming to a close. Time to kick end of year into high gear. When you use Apple Card with Apple Pay, you earn 2 % daily cash back on all purchases, including food, decorations, gifts, and more. Get a head start on your end-of-year purchases. Apply for your Apple Card in the Wallet app on your iPhone today and start using it right away with Apple Pay.

2:10Subject to credit approval, Apple Card is issued by Goldman Sachs, Bank USA, Salt Lake City Branch, Terms and More at AppleCard.com. This episode is brought to you by Walmart Business. The best leaders might tell you the work that moves an organization forward doesn't happen in spreadsheets or supply chain emails. It happens when you have the space to think big. That's the idea behind Walmart Business. It's built to take the friction out of running an organization so your team isn't losing hours to procurement logistics when they could just be focused on the problems that actually matter. With an ever-expanding business assortment, everyday low prices, and fast, reliable shipping, Walmart Business keeps your operations running smoothly.

2:52Shop online, in-store, or through the Walmart Business app. However works best for you. Simpler operations, smarter spending. It's Walmart built for your business. Sign up for a free Walmart business account at business.walmart.com. This episode is brought to you by Planet Visionaries, a podcast in partnership with the Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative. What connects a hidden laboratory in the Amazon, giant pandas in China's mountain forests, research relating to the ocean, and communities living alongside wildlife in India? That's what you'll hear on Season 6 of Planet Visionaries, stories from the explorers, scientists, and conservation leaders whose work addresses research, biodiversity, and conservation issues in specific locations.

3:39Planet Visionaries, hosted by environmental advocate and professional climber Alex Honnold, brings you real stories of discovery, determination, and research and initiatives relating to environmental change. In partnership with the Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative, this is Planet Visionaries. Listen or watch wherever you get your podcasts.

4:04And now, our TED Talk of the day.

4:07Tami Pyfer: When I was working as the education policy advisor for the governor of Utah, I was approached by a group of elementary school students who reached out asking for my help. These young entrepreneurs were learning how to create their own businesses, and they had decided to create a portrait business. If you sent them a photo and$6, they would sketch your portrait. Well, I was eager to support these students. And so I sent this photo of my oldest son. Tammy shows a black and white picture of her oldest son. He has a serious look on his face as he looks downward to the left, away from the camera. He's holding a guitar and standing against an elaborate tapestry.

4:49Tami Pyfer: He's a musician, and I've always thought that this picture really captured his personality. So I sent in my$6 and waited. This is what I got back. Tammy shows an image clearly hand-drawn by children. The depiction of her son has a large round head with an etched-in beard. His body looks disproportionately small compared to his head, and he blends into the tapestry behind him. How fantastic is this, right? The blue beard, the whole vibe. My son loved this so much that it's hanging in his studio. I loved it so much I wanted them to draw me. So I sent this photo of my husband and me. We were out to dinner for my birthday.

5:33Tami Pyfer: It's one of my favorite photos. For$6, this is what I got back. Tammy shows side-by-side images. The image to the left is a photograph of her and her husband at a restaurant. The image to the right is a hand-drawn illustration of their faces squished together. They have big grins with two rows of oversized teeth. Tammy's depiction has large round eyes that are starkly outlined. Her husband's eyes are two filled-in dots. Ouch.

6:06Tami Pyfer: It can be a little painful when you realize that the way you see yourself is dramatically, dramatically different from how other people see you. But that gap, that difference in perspective can also be powerful. because when we learn to see ourselves through a new lens, it can open a path to growth. And it just might be the key to strengthening democracy. A few years ago, my family was struggling, not because we didn't love each other, but because like a lot of families, our political differences had started to impact the way we interacted with each other. We're a politically diverse family. I have five kids who belong to five political parties.

6:50Tami Pyfer: I have an independent, a democrat, a democratic socialist, a libertarian, and a republican. And my husband and I have different political views as well. He is an unaffiliated conservative, and I am a moderate republican. We're basically our own focus group. I've always considered raising kids with independent views a parenting win.

7:21Tami Pyfer: But during this time, it didn't feel like anyone was winning. Conversations got tense. Sometimes we argued, but mostly we just avoided talking about anything that could stir controversy. Our Thanksgiving dinners, we implemented the no politics rule, but even then, an unguarded comment could break the truce. Slowly, I recognized something else coming into our conversations and our interactions. It was more than disagreement. It was more than conflict. It was contempt. Now, we're living in a culture of contempt. You see it everywhere. On social media, on cable news, on talk radio, and especially in politics.

8:07Tami Pyfer: Contempt is this feeling that you're better than those people. That their views aren't just wrong, but dangerous. And they're not just mistaken, they're evil. And when contempt enters a conversation, everything changes. It changes the way we see each other. It erodes trust. It weakens relationships and divides communities. Over time, it damages democracy itself. The antidote to contempt is dignity. Dignity is the inherent worth of every human being. Not because of what we believe, not because of what we achieve, but because we are human. And if contempt says, I see myself above you, dignity says, I see myself in you.

8:56Tami Pyfer: And when contempt pulls us apart, dignity can bring us back together in our families, our communities, and our country. Now, if contempt is so damaging and dignity so healing, what if we had a way to see both more clearly? That question led my colleagues and me to create something called the Dignity Index. It's a simple scale that measures how we treat each other or the language that we use when we disagree. The scale goes from one to eight, and on one side of the scale is contempt. This is where we dismiss others. Maybe we mock them. We dehumanize, and we ultimately condone or even commit acts of violence and feel virtuous about it.

9:43Tami Pyfer: On the other side of the scale is dignity. Dignity is where we listen. We seek common ground. We admit mistakes, and we're able to see each other's humanity even in disagreement, even in conflict. Now, the Dignity Index scores language, not people. No one is a three. No one is a seven. We all have the ability to move up and down the scale every day. Let's give it a try. Let's score this quote. This is from Senator John McCain in his concession speech to then-Senator Barack Obama in 2008. Senator McCain said, I've always believed that America offers opportunity to all who have the industry and will to seize it.

10:27Tami Pyfer: Senator Obama believes that too. This scores a six. We're always looking for those things that we have in common, the values and interests that we share, because we have more in common than we think. Let's score this quote. This is from a political fundraising email. The American dream is under attack by the woke left, radical right, fill in the blank. The fight is no longer at our doorstep. It's entered our homes and personal lives. This is a two. Those people are evil, and they're going to destroy everything if we let them. They're a danger to everything that we value. We're going to score one last quote here.

11:08Tami Pyfer: This one is from Benjamin Franklin. And this was on the last night of the Constitutional Convention. He was advocating for approval of the Constitution even though he disagreed with several points in the Constitution, saying, I've experienced many instances of being obliged by better information or fuller consideration to change opinions even on important subjects. This is a beautiful seven, where you're going to work with people who think differently than you do, that you're going to be open to admitting that you might make a mistake or that you changed your mind. That's how you use the Dignity Index.

11:47Tami Pyfer: See how easy it is? Now, when we first created the Dignity Index, we designed it to score political speech. And that's how most people tend to think about it when they start to learn the scale, as a tool for judging others, their senator, maybe their boss, maybe their spouse. But then something unexpected happens. They remember a conversation they've had where they maybe dismissed or mocked someone because of their views, or they rolled their eyes, and they think, oh, wow, that was contempt, and that was me. We call this the mirror effect. It's the moment we see our own role in division and realize we can choose something better.

12:33Tami Pyfer: Because when we use contempt, it's hard to see it. But once we see it, it becomes harder to use it. And the dignity index helps us see it. That shift can change a political conversation. It can also change a workplace or a community, even a family. Earlier, I introduced my family by their political labels, but those beliefs are just a small part of who they really are. My kids are also thoughtful, loyal, creative, generous, genuine. My husband is steadfast, and me, I am determined. In the midst of our differences, we have to remind ourselves of these humanizing qualities in each other. And sometimes it's hard work.

13:28Tami Pyfer: We still do not agree on politics. But we do agree that we should treat each other with dignity. There was one experience that really brought this home for me. I was invited to speak at a political event in a large metropolitan city. It was my first formal presentation on the Dignity Index, and my husband had come along for support. As we walked into the event, I looked around and realized that I should not be there. The speeches were fiery, and the topics were the exact ones that had caused tensions between my husband and me. I felt like these were his people, and I was about to be attacked. So we sat at the back of the room and waited.

14:16Tami Pyfer: I braced myself and leaned over to my husband and said, a speech on dignity is not going to land here. And he leaned over and said, this is the right message. You can do this. Let me help you. And he coached me on how to speak to this group, how to connect, how to help them feel understood while not compromising what I believed. That was a breakthrough because we couldn't have done that just a few years earlier. We would not have known how to cross that divide. The divide in the room and the divide between us. But we were doing the work. We were learning how to disagree with dignity. And that changed everything.

15:02Tami Pyfer: There is no America without democracy. There is no democracy without healthy debate. And there is no healthy debate unless we treat each other with dignity. And it often begins with something as simple as looking in the mirror. Because when we learn to see ourselves clearly, we begin choosing more dignity and less contempt. And that small shift multiplied across families, communities in our country, is exactly what democracy needs most. Thank you.

15:45That was Tammy Peiffer at TED Democracy 2026 in Philadelphia. If you're curious about TED's curation, visit TED.com slash curation guidelines. And that's it for today. TED Talks Daily is a podcast from TED. This episode was fact-checked by the TED Research Team and produced and edited by our team, Martha Estefanos, Oliver Friedman, Lucy Little, Emma Taubner, and Tansika Sunglarnivam. Additional support from Daniela Ballarezzo, Christopher Faze-Bogan, Valentina Bohanini, Banban Chang, Brian Green, and Lainey Lott. Learn more at podcasts.ted.com. I am Elise Hu. I'll be back tomorrow with a fresh idea for your feed.

16:27Thanks for listening.

16:36This episode is sponsored by Ashby. Every talk you hear on this show started as an idea, and every idea that actually gets built needs a team. Today's sponsor, Ashby, is the software that supports hiring for those ambitious teams. Ashby is the all-in-one recruiting platform used by the teams at Lovable, Notion, Plaid, and Clay. If you wish that AI could help you move faster through scheduling and scorecards, that you could find that silver medalist candidate from 18 months ago in a few seconds, or that you had better visibility into the state of your candidate pipeline, Ashby is for you. See why over 80 % of Forbes' top AI companies choose Ashby to hire the best talent.

17:16And visit www.ashbyhq.com slash TED.

17:24Hi there, it's Adam Grant from TED's Rethinking Podcast. And this episode is brought to you by ServiceNow. I get to spend my days studying how people think and what it actually takes to change our minds. It's work I find deeply meaningful. But even in meaningful work, there's still busy work. The admin, the repetitive processes, the invisible load that pulls attention away from what really matters. That's where ServiceNow's AI specialists come in. They don't just tell you what you should do about your busy work. They actually do it. Start to finish. Cases closed. Requests handled. No extra work for you.

17:57To learn how to put AI to work for people, visit servicenow.com. This is the story of the one. As a shipping manager, he's running the dock, stocking supplies, and making sure every order goes out on time. And Grainger helps him stay prepared. From shipping supplies to PPE to hand tools, he counts on Grainger to keep products moving and trucks rolling. So his operation runs smoothly no matter the shift. Call 1-800-GRAINGER, click grainger.com, or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done. you