The Parties That Divided a Nation
Tags: Democratic Party, Politics, Obama, Trump, Republican Party

There are three things you should never talk about when meeting a person for the first time: religion, politics, and money. But as time changes, so do its ideologies. The topic of religion and money are still sore but the discussions of politics have become more prominent. At the same time that the popularity of political discussions increased, so did the strength of people’s affiliations with a political party. The two main political parties that people align themselves with are the Democratic and Republican parties. These discussions have caused many feuds and conflicts, both verbal and physical. Politics is not just seen in discussions, it can be found everywhere in today’s society. You can not go a day without hearing or seeing something involving politics. Now that fewer Americans are mutual when it comes to politics, it caused people to feel that they must choose a side. The idea of vowing loyalty to a political side has caused people to no longer focus on what is best for the country, but rather what is best for their side. The focus of what party you align yourself with has caused Americans to forget that they’re Americans and has caused our great nation to become divided. If we don’t step in and try to reunite our citizens our country will collapse.

During George Washington’s farewell address he discussed what our country must accomplish to remain a republic. Washington focuses heavily on unity and states that “independence, peace at home and abroad, safety, prosperity, and liberty are all dependent upon the unity between the states” (Washington). In order for a nation to remain strong and powerful, its people must be united. Back when this speech was delivered, the unity of the nation was at its highest. Our country was still brand new, we had just won our independence only a couple of years prior. Although America’s citizens were united, Washington knew that factors could come in and easily change it. His address brought much significance because just a year earlier, two parties were formed: Democratic-Republican and the Federalist. Washington discourages the formation of parties because he believes they have a “tendency to distract the government from their duties, create unfounded jealousies among groups and regions, raise false alarms amongst the people, promote riots and insurrection, and provide foreign nations and interests access to the government where they can impose their will upon the country” (Washington). These ideas that Washington states were just theories at the time, but now that political parties have been in our country for hundreds of years we know that these ideas are true. Parties cause individuals to seek power rather than justice and are a major factor that can destroy the unity of a nation.

Although Washington made vital claims to oppose the implementation of political parties into our country, people didn’t listen. It wasn’t that long after the two political parties previously stated, intertwined themselves into our government. The addition of parties into our country’s politics is the catalyst for the division of our nation. Eventually, these two parties will evolve and change into the two we know today: Republican and Democratic. At first, political parties didn’t affect the country that much because Americans were still putting their country first, but eventually, people started to shift from identifying as Americans to identifying with their associated party. Once this shift happened, America became divided.

Although the country has been divided for some time, it has never been as divided as it is today. Politics are the dividing line for America, it surpasses “differences by age, race and ethnicity, gender, educational attainment, religious affiliation or other factors’’ (pewresearch.org). The population of America is much greater than it was when our country was first founded, and now anyone over the age of 18 can vote, rather than only a certain group of men. Since the majority of Americans are involved in politics, the majority of Americans are divided. A way that politics has changed is that there are fewer people who have a mix of both sides. People are either all the way right, conservative, or all the way left, liberal. In 1994, 49 percent of the population was a mix of liberal and conservative ideas; Twenty years later in 2014, only 39 percent of the population had a mixed opinion. This 10 percent is divided between the consistently liberal and consistently conservative positions. Exactly as George Washinton stated in his farewell address when parties are formed they create unfounded jealousy. These jealousies have evolved the attitudes of the opposing parties from disliking one another to believing that the other party is detrimental to the country’s well-being. In a survey conducted in 2014, 27 percent of Democrats answered that they viewed the Republican Party as a threat to the nation’s well being. In the same survey, 36 percent of Republicans answered the same way when asked about the Democrats (pewresearch.org).

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A study which was conducted over forty years sought to seek out if political polarization was increasing equally amongst multiple countries. The study examined nine different countries: United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, and Sweden. The researchers surveyed the public’s attitude towards their political party and their attitude towards other political parties. The people surveyed were asked to rate the parties on a scale of zero to one-hundred, where zero reflected no negative opinion. The results found that during 1978, Americans on average rated their political party 27 points higher than the other political party; In 2016, the average American rated their political party 45.9 points higher than the other party. The United States had the most significant increase in polarization than any other country surveyed. Canada, New Zealand, and Switzerland also had an increase in polarization but nothing compared to the United States. In the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, Norway, and Sweden political polarization decreased. The main cause for the political polarization is because, since the 1970’s, the two major political parties started aligning themselves with particular ideologies, races, and religious identities. American politics changed from focusing on bettering the country, to focusing on morals and different ideologies. In the past, the difference between the two parties was whether the government should be involved or not involved, but now the main differences are on social problems. These problems being abortion, racism, climate change, gun control, etc. This shift in politics to focus on morals has greatly affected the unity of the nation. Another reason that could increase polarization is the rise of partisan news stations. News stations are privately owned companies, so whoever owns them can choose to report on whatever they decide. In the countries where polarization decreased, their news stations were more heavily funded by the public rather than a private company (Kimball-Brown).

The framers of our country knew what steps had to be taken for our country to prosper. One of those steps was making sure that political parties were never implemented into our government. During Washinton’s speech, he warns the nation about the dangers that political parties bring. John Adams, the successor to George Washinton, continued to express these dangers during his presidency. Adams states, “ a division of the republic into two great parties … is to be dreaded as the great political evil” (Drutman). Our America today is the divided nation that our framers dreaded. Washington and other framers followed a very simple theory “If a consistent partisan majority ever united to take control of the government, it would use its power to oppress the minority. The fragile consent of the governed would break down, and violence and authoritarianism would follow” (Drutman). This event had plagued many other republics into civil wars, which ultimately led to the fall of the republic. To prevent this from happening to our country, our framers implemented two major insights- a large nation with separated powers across competing institutions. Our framers were using the most advanced forms of political science but sadly they did not work. As a result the two parties that we know today, came in and dominated politics. Democrats, composed of a well diverse group with cosmopolitan values, took over the major cities across the nation. Republicans, composed of majority-white Christians who had traditional values, took over the rural areas of the country. As different areas started to become either republican or democratic so did the congressional districts. This caused the primary elections, not the general, to become the deciding factor in these districts. Since these areas were either democratic or republican third-party candidates were silenced. Even if their ideas were great and revolutionary they would never be able to defeat the majority parties that our country is composed of (Drutman).

Our country wouldn’t be as divided if we had leaders who cared about the country rather than obtaining power. There is a disease that runs rampant throughout the leaders of our nation. This disease is called Chaos syndrome which is a “chronic decline in the political system’s capacity for self-organization” (Rauch). This means that these politicians are not held responsible for pursuing self-interest. Nowadays politicians, such as congressional leaders, can openly say they are not going to accept any propositions because they are from the other party. These career politicians build their careers off of either always voting to pass bills proposed by their party or by rejecting bills proposed by the opposite party. Since these people are only focused on helping their party succeed, America cannot improve. Political parties put blinders on individuals making them forget that America could always come first (Rauch).

Since our country now only has two major political parties, it will be almost impossible for another party to arise. Peter Mair states in his book “Party Systems and Structures of Competition”, that newly established political parties that are most pronounced in established governments “rarely if ever break through the governing threshold” (Mair). What Mair means by this is that if there is a dominating force in a nation’s government, it will be very difficult to overthrow that power. This can be seen in any election. Although there are more than two political parties, they will never get the same amount of publicities or votes as the two dominating ones. Politics has changed from implementing ideas that would better our country, to being about obtaining power. The two parties no longer care whether they are helping the citizens; they would much rather focus on obtaining and maintaining power. This is why politics is seen as competition in today’s society. The two political parties compete for who will get a hold of the government. This is why politics has shifted from policies to moral ideas. The parties are trying to get more people involved and on their sides, so they are using emotional appeals to attract individuals. Their plans were successful and enormous amounts of people are now involved. Citizens being involved in politics is not terrible, it is only negative because since politics have shifted to moral ideas, these people are now very emotionally connected and feel personally offended and or attacked if you disagree with their opinion. Politics is not just a part of these people’s lives, it is their life; Their political party is now a part of their identity. Political identification is what is causing the many conflicts in our nation. People can no longer agree to disagree when it comes to politics. These people believe that if you do not stand with them that you are against them, and in some cases will physically attack you for having a different opinion. Once the citizens of a nation feel that they have to hide their political alliance so they can avoid being assaulted, you know that it is time for a change. That change should be the elimination of the political parties, which would be replaced by candidates’ names and their ideas (Mair).

Although many people are on the radical side of each political party, there are many people who aren’t in favor of the political parties. In recent years the two political parties have grown weaker among the electorate. A study conducted in 2000 shows that in the past the two political parties dominated in the election collecting over 90 percent of the votes, but in 1997, 1992, and 1996 elections, the two political parties did not collect 90 percent of the votes. People are starting to reach out for a third/ independent party to help America. Although people’s loyalty to political parties has been eroding over time, the Democratic and Republican parties still dominate the polls. This is because many people just vote based on the party. If we got rid of the political parties and just allowed people to run with their name and their ideas, then we could give these previously third parties/ independent people a voice. It will also end the division in our country because people will no longer feel so emotionally connected to a party (Abramson).

In conclusion, the political parties that are implemented in our government have caused our country to be the most divided that it has ever been. Parties have switched from focusing on better the nation, to be about morals and ideologies. This switch has caused many people to feel deep emotional connections with the party that they align themselves with. These deep connections lead to conflicts with people who disagree with their opinion because these people believe that by disagreeing they are going against them. These deep-rooted connections allow the power-hungry politicians to recruit people to their side and allow them to gain more power. These new-age politicians are cursed with chaos syndrome and would rather focus on improving their situation than the nation’s. In order for our country to return to the united nation it once was, we must eliminate the political parties. Citizens have already started to end their loyalties to the two dominant parties to no avail. These parties are too dominant, so voting for a third-party candidate is almost a waste. If we get rid of the parties and let people run on their name and their ideas it will give them a better chance. It will also reunite our country because there will be more options rather than having to pick a side.