Living in a democratic nation has a whole lot of perks. As a citizen, having a say in who runs your country is a very important and incredible aspect of our nation, and no one should take that for granted. Being able to voice your opinion and vote for candidates that embody your morals is a great thing. However, it seems like our two-party system causes a lot of tension, not just between politicians, but between people as well. The separation between parties is clearly very large, and with different ideas in each, some of these ideas are so radically different that it causes negative backlash from members who choose one party over another.
I’ve noticed limited positive reactions between people who vote for different parties when they discuss politics or express their political opinions. No one seems to respect views that are different from their own. People are absolutely allowed to have diverse opinions on different laws, policies and how they think the country should be run, but it’s as though people don’t even listen to what others with different views have to say before criticizing them.
At college, we are in an environment where people are starting to shape and mold their political stances. Some people have lived with parents who pushed political opinions onto them that didn’t go with or match their own. With aspects such as school clubs for different political parties and many people going out and voting for the first time, college is a place to explore and research different political ideas and find what fits best for you so you can vote how you want to for candidates that best support your interests.
However, I’ve found that college is also a place with heightened arguing and harsh treatment from people from one political party to the other. I’ve heard friends offhandedly say they couldn’t be friends with someone who supported one political party over another. Tolerance from one party to another is very little, and that’s an issue. Especially in the age of social media, these arguments are frequent and they’re all over timelines and newsfeeds for everyone to see. I can’t even count the amount of times I’ve seen political arguments on Facebook and Twitter so heated that people start insulting and cursing at each other. It’s great to be confident in your beliefs, but it’s another thing to try to force them on other people or criticize someone for believing something different.
The media loves to fire up these arguments with headlines pitting the two parties against each other and political talk shows where members of different parties seem to just go on and trash each other. It shouldn’t have to be one party versus another. There shouldn’t be an expected fight when one person says they’re a Democrat and the other a Republican.
The difference between the political parties, and the people who support each, shouldn’t create these hostile interactions. People are so stuck in their own viewpoints that they can’t even muster up the ability to politely respect other people’s ideas that are different from theirs. Both parties are guilty of this. It seems like the parties have become mortal enemies, and no progress can be made with this mindset, whether politicians or regular people in society. I’m not a political science major or have any intense knowledge of politics, but the way people of different parties treat each other seems abnormally malicious, and it doesn’t create a setting for any sort of positive development. How can we make progress when everyone is too busy bickering? It seems like many people’s mindsets are stuck, and they’re refusing to push them forward and find anything to agree on with the opposite party.
You can disagree with someone’s political views without attacking them. A debate can be had without it being hostile if both parties listen and respect one another. While there are different opinions, maybe people would find similarities or compromises if they just listened to what the other had to say without shutting them down immediately. Maybe George Washington’s warnings about a two-party system were right. Let’s hope we can move forward to create progress without all of the fighting.
