Many believe that the current disparity between Democrats and Republicans are at an all-time high and hope for reconciliation in the near future is nearly impossible. Many also believe that our political divide is insignificant when taken into the context of the entire U.S. history.
For instance, political climates during leading up to the Civil War, surrounding the Vietnam War, and the tensions during the age of segregation could be argued as the most politically polarized our country has ever been.
Current situations that may lead to the polarization of the political climate nowadays include the fact that where we live, who we make friends with and affiliate ourselves with in general is strongly based on where we fall on the political spectrum. This makes us feel “comfortable” and “safe,” which furthers the argument that discourse and common ground between Democrats and Republicans is hard to find. When we are surrounded by those who have the exact same perspectives on political situations as we do, it becomes a social norm to conform to this shared ideology and anyone who does not think this way may be attacked or regarded with less respect.
Democrats and Republicans need to talk to each other but, more often than not, they are talking past each other
The attitudes of Republicans towards Democrats and Democrats towards Republicans are similar in the fact that more than 60% of people in each party view the other party and their policies as “threats.” In recent years, this number has been climbing and yes—Democrats and Republicans need to talk to each other but, more often than not, they are talking past each other.
One effect of the growing divide among many Americans is that simple facts cannot be agreed upon; on top of that, facts are twisted in a way that suits every party members’ views. For example, in February, Donald Trump mentioned in his speech that “Hillary Clinton [gave] Russia 20 percent of the uranium in our country,” but that’s just not true; misleading the public carelessly and riling up Republicans who are already discontent with Clinton (and careless rhetoric from President Trump) is furthering this issue of political polarity.
What really happened with the alleged 20% uranium the U.S. gave to Russia while Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State was this: Russia’s nuclear power agency bought a stake in a Toronto-based energy company that had land and mines in the U.S. that accounted for “20 percent of the US’s uranium production capacity, not actual produced uranium.” The State Department and eight other departments signed off on this deal and President Obama was the only one who had veto power. And since Russia does not have the legal ability to obtain U.S. uranium, this deal was likely for their nuclear power program to have access to uranium in other countries.
Things are not always black and white, so when politicians, Democrats, or Republicans blatantly accuse one another of something, the gap between the two parties widen. And although all Americans want what’s best for our country, the disagreement of facts and the political polarization of the general public is causing what—to some—might be one of the most divided times in our country’s history.
