I have a long-running fondness for chaotic caucuses, and that fondness remains strong in 2016. Yeah, a Bernie Sanders supporter with a banjo sang at me as I entered Miller Community Center. Yes, the gym was packed and sweaty and so loud it was hard to hear people sometimes. Yes, the Democratic caucuses could be a little better organized—though honestly, they were pretty damn well organized at Miller, considering the turnout—and the surrogate caucusing option should be better publicized so that people who have to work on Saturdays can still participate. (Even better: make Election Day and Caucus Day paid, federal holidays!)

But I still love the act of getting in a huddle with my neighbors, electing a precinct captain on the spot (ours failed to show), debating in public, voting in public, and in about an hour creating a little triumph of local democracy that will help the larger cogs of county, state, and national democracy grind forward. Flawed as our American democracy is, caucusing still feels revitalizing and important.

It also nudged up my faith in the value of human discourse, which was a refreshing sensation. So much of the Bernie-Hillary fight has involved rabid, extreme online posting and comment-leaving. But at my caucus site none of the in-the-flesh arguments were rabid or even remotely uncivil. (Though I did hear afterward about one Bernie supporter in the gym yelling at undecided delegates about Nicaragua, spittle flying.)

Other people at my caucus site expressed a similar feeling of relief that the tone of real world debate had been nothing like the tone of debate in the virtual world, so I know I'm not alone on this one.

Maybe one part of the answer to our increasing political polarization is less hiding behind screens and more time staring at your neighbor's faces, listening, smelling the bad breath and sweat of real human democracy.