Millions of Texans lost power when our electrical grid buckled to storms so cold, they froze our gas pipelines, nuclear water pumps and wind generators. Instead of tackling the problem, we blamed each other.

Politicians across the nation immediately sprang into partisan form, some Democrats blaming Texans for our longtime oil and gas leadership, some Republicans denigrating our thriving wind and solar power infrastructure.

Polarization is tearing our nation apart, and little is getting done. Yet America’s uncivil war is like a made-for-TV reality show custom-designed by what we click online, watch on cable news and reward with our votes.

Divide-and-conquer politics have long been the go-to strategy. Today, big data strategists have turned this demon art into a science. With near 90% accuracy, computer algorithms sort each of us into separate media silos, then barrage us with messages that confirm our worst fears about each other.

The result is a political media industry that thrives on outrage. The formula is simple. Inside the red media silo, center-right Americans hear a constant stream of insults from a few extremists on the left. Inside the blue silo, liberals hear an onslaught of rants from an extreme right minority. Blue and red Americans so fear one another, they’ll vote for anyone on their side to avoid being led by the other.

We saw the consequences in the last political season. Hardcore conservative media made it seem like lawless socialists were invading Middle America to take our guns. Ideological left-wing media outlets stoked fears that gun-toting patriots were invading our cities to take our lives. And true to form, reality followed belief.

Dozens of news outlets strive to bring readers and viewers the facts, so we can form our own opinions. But they don’t control what we actually see. Instead, political strategists, power brokers, message testers and paid pundits use data analytics to create the world they want us inside, not to win a partisan war, but to keep us in endless battle. Their reward: political power and advertising revenues.

We pay them to play us, each time we click on breaking news, respond to an ad or donate to campaigns, even for causes that deserve our support. We’re all trapped by biased media sources that profit from fears.

It’s time we end that. There’s only one way. Defund the fear. That’s the commitment we and our friends are making. We’re asking business, political and citizen leaders to join us, by taking this pledge:

Starting today, we pledge to take our dollars and our votes away from campaigns and media that systematically polarize the nation. We will invest only in candidates, media and companies that support bipartisan problem-solving. We refuse to support candidates who deny facts, demonize groups, excuse extremism.

But we can’t stop there. When 5% of all U.S. voters — about 5 million of us — commit our dollars and votes to problem solving, we will shift the balance of power.

Five percent of us hold the victory margin that decides every contested race, and $260 billion in consumer spending that can pull advertisers to quality media. Here’s how:

First, vote with your dollars. Support only candidates and companies that commit to being problem solvers. You will find them at our website, In This Together America (inthistogetheramerica.org).

Second, use media consolidators that present a variety of perspectives, like AllSides and EarthxNews, and invite your friends to do the same.

Third, listen carefully to your friends on the other side. Hear their hopes and fears, and we will all move to higher common ground.

We, the uncertain, are what America needs to form a union, imperfections and all.

Trammell S. Crow and Bill Shireman are co-chairs of the Donor Roundtable, and co-authors of “In This Together — How Republicans, Democrats, Capitalists, and Activists are Uniting to Tackle Climate Change and More.” They wrote this column for The Dallas Morning News.