Political Polarization

From Arnold Carpet.

 I feel like politics is analogous to someone walking on a rope. Similar to how both sides get polarized and start pushing, the walker will lean one way and too much another and eventually fall. The polarization, by the way, is a mere indication that something isn't right and one side is responding by pushing traditional ways of life and the other is responding with a cry for urgent change. In America, however, there are three major players rather than two: the "crazy" left, the Democrats, and the Republicans. 

    This week, I listened to Noam Chomsky's podcast on "Free Will" and read a bit of Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. Afterwards, I realized that in modern times, political polarization drives individuals to believe that politics is black and white, rather than a sea of different ideologies. It's almost inevitable with a two party system. Democrats do this and Republicans do this, but in reality, the United States government has successfully inflicted this illusion on its people. Democrats and Republicans are not different. They disagree on a handful of topics that, relative to the real issues, are trivial in importance to Americans. To the unknowing audience, they talk about abortion and guns. Those are the topics that fill ignorant yet energetic Americans' mouths when talking about politics because those are the topics that corrupt politicians' mouths on TV. But look around. Democrat or Republican, schools remain underfunded, 34,000,000 Americans live in poverty, 30,000,000 live Americans uninsured (and yes, I did write those numbers out on purpose in order to give them their rightful weight), six major companies control over 90% of the media, women earn 70% of men's salaries, fossil fuel and N.R.A. lobbyists continue to be the puppeteers for the childish Congressmen, CO2 levels are still rising in our ozone layer, LGBTQ+ members are oppressed daily, mercenaries are still being hired to go overseas and commit crimes not thinkable to a healthy human mind, sexual allegations are swept under the rug everyday, and Americans are fed fast food until they vomit. These problems are only a handful unfortunately. 

Assume every integer along the x-axis is a political topic and the y-axis is variation of answers. Now pretend the green and blue are the political parties today.

    While all of these issues continue to block humans from having basic human rights, "liberal" C.N.N. and "conservative" Fox News will have you think the blame falls on one political party. That the root of evil stems from the characters in the play rather than the play-writers themselves. It's gotten to a ridiculous point. When Democratic Representatives brought up the possible negative effects of COVID-19, the Trump Administration blindly took the opposing side (and we know it's the opposing side because Trump's call with Woodward was leaked) and now 200,000 Americans are dead. Democrats say wear a mask, Republicans say it's unpatriotic. Democrats say virtual schooling, Republicans say in-seat. It's like playing on the blue or red team in soccer: the teams' primary goal is to undermine each other. Heated debates between the two parties, which usually consist of cherry-picking evidence (if any at all), only seem to reinforce their own beliefs. Fighting and arguing with all their heart not realizing the ignorance.

    Look at the effect this polarization has on people. When someone like Bernie Sanders comes along, suggesting free healthcare and minimization of the wage-gap, they call him crazy. Is he truly mentally unstable for suggesting something that European countries have had for a century? No, he's not, but Americans think he is because they've been taught that politics consists of either Democrats or Republicans (which, by the way, isn't even left and right because Democrats are right leaning when you consider economical justice) and since he pushes the boundaries in a much needed time for reform, he is "crazy".

    To conclude this sad and inconclusive excuse of an analysis, I say this: when people hear/read a piece of information from somewhere, they should usually find it inconclusive. Skepticism should swarm their brain whenever reading about politics. Open-mindedness and skepticism are they key elements to combating political polarization.
When the President of the United States starts saying "Democrats" and "Republicans", the division only progresses. 

And it probably gets even more complex than this.