Whether you are a Democrat, Republican, or choose to be independent, you have been impacted by political polarization. These categories have become defining factors in our society. They make or break relationships, establish stereotypes, and even are put on dating profiles. Our political beliefs have become so prominent in society, that we have forgotten the importance of respect and agreeing to disagree. Political opinions are opinions. They are not fact, however, many of us, including those in power forget this component.

On this blog post page, I want to stress the importance of the change that is happening to our society. Politics, which once was elected officials to represent the people, has become overly stressed and divided. Politics once united the country, however, it seems that we have taken a step back.

The first topic I want to talk about is political parties and what our society would look like without defining parties. The first thing would be more educated election votes and knowledge of our government system. Defining parties have created a group to belong to. According to research, “There is a strong correlation between belonging to a political party and political opinions.” Rather than looking into a candidate and what their beliefs are, many voters see the political affilation of the candidate and cast their vote. This is inherently biased and against democratic principles. Our democratic system is supposed to be represented by the people. However, with the increased emphasis on political parties, people are making uninformed decisions.

Furthermore, political parties have a certain agenda to abide by. This includes contributions of political campaigns and influencing the elite to “help” campaigning. This agenda has destroyed the honesty of candidates and allows them to make promises that do not occur. For example, Bill Clinton promised universal health care to all Americans. This is a HUGE promise to make. This was a big priority of the democratic party and would have completely changed the current health care system in place. However, once in office, this was never completed. One of Clinton’s main campaign priorities never occurred. It only helped his agenda. He was able to gain the democratic vote but never fulfilled the promise. Political parties can create candidates to lie just for the benefit of the votes.

Lastly, America has increasingly become divided in the past 8 years. According to pew research, “A month before the election, roughly eight in ten registered voters in both camps said their differences with the other side were about core American values.” This statement implies that Americans are questioning the morality of others based on their political beliefs. This is when respect for each other is lost and creates a scary division in the United States.

Image sources: insperity.com and pewresearchcenter.com