Political Polarization Essay

The system of political parties serves to accurately sort Americans into categories based on political views, but this often serves to wage animosity between groups, especially when one group holds more political power than the

During the course of history there have been several political parties. The largest of these parties that has endured through the eras are both the Democrats and the Republicans. The two political parties in particular have conflicting beliefs that differentiate from each other. Although they differentiate from one another they both are capable to discover agreements on several political and public issues.

“However [political parties] … are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government…”, wrote George Washington, the father of the United States and the first American president, during his farewell address. Washington forewarned that the creation of a one-party political system would be the death of the American democracy. That is why a two-party system, and political parties in general, have been an integral part of the American democracy for over two centuries. Between 1789 and 1860, the existence of political parties, whether it was the Federalists, Anti-Federalists, Whigs, or Democratic Republicans, had a profound affect on the development of the American economy, government, and social framework.

Citizens of today’s society are convinced that they are divided tremendously. That the Republicans are so far right on the spectrum and that the Democrats are so far left on the spectrum that it is impossible for both parties to come to an agreement on any type of issue. If citizens dig deeper into the political world, they will find that there is not much of a difference between the two parties as they think. My job is to uncover what you may not know about politics, and have you see the opposing party 's view on the issues

In everyday conversations a subject that frequently tends to arise is American politics. During these conversations a variation of sub topics often occur usually pertaining to the Army’s funding, elections, and the different political parties. One of these topics that tends to cause a lot of feuding is the different political parties. In my family alone, we partake in disputes based on our different political parties, I am a Democrat while my parents are Republican. Often, we participate in quarrels over different events that occur in society.

Political Parties DBQ Political parties have been a controversial topic for a long time, even when the United States were just beginning. However, in the early days of the United States political parties were not the best thing for the new government. The parties often caused rivalries to form, and people could end up hating others just because they had different political ideas. Political parties would make people lie; they would cause people to get hurt; the government would also be negatively affected. Political parties in the early United States caused people to lie.

As has been thoroughly established, the problem in America doesn’t appear to be related to the recent increase in partisanship. If the partisan argument were sufficient, it would suggest gridlock would occur in countries that also possess this same principle. What has been proven though is that this is not the case in other parts of the world, and instead quite the contrary often occurs. A new answer must be formulated to answer the question as to what is causing the consistency in America’s dissent and inefficiency. What appears to be the case is that rather than the actual, tangible partisanship being the problem, it is instead a lower tolerance for partisanship that America possesses.

George Washington had a vision for the United States of America that seems to be unattainable. In his Farewell Address, he gave a strong warning to the nation: don’t create political parties, and don’t create alliances with other nations. While Washington had good intentions, there was little possibility of his warnings being heeded. Political parties were established before Washington even left office, and permanent alliances with foreign militaries show no signs of disappearing. Washington acknowledged that political parties are a part of human nature in his Farewell Address, and that still holds true today.

The polarization of the political system in America infects the decision making and voting of politicians and Americans. Logical political decision making of political officials and Americans have been clouded by ideological viewpoints which does not logically increase the United States well being (Wilson pg 7). The political powers lack the efficient clarity in order to expand the growth of society fundamentally. Each political party has its own regime and viewpoint of what is to be of the country we all dwell in. This fog in the vision of these parties withstands a fine judgement in the development of the United States as a whole.

The United States is well known for its bipartisan political system, where Republicans are always competing with Democrats, trying to popularize their political ideals and seeking ways to maintain their political leadership. Despite the traditional viewpoint that Republicans and Democrats are completely different, they are in a position to reach agreement on many political and social issues. Beyond the controversial issues of federalism, unilateral military aggression, abortion and same-sex marriages, democratic and republican parties encourage the privatization of prisons and the increase of the army budget, supplemented by a political effort to reduce the burden Taxation of the wealthiest. Neither the Republicans nor the Democrats are willing to increase the tax burden that the American population currently carries.

The fall of the US hegemony was triggered by the lack of response to the 9/11 attacks and this elicited a domino effect. The financial crisis of 2008 caused an immense setback as people’s trust in America diminished. Moreover, the wrongly started wars in Iraq and Afghanistan [1] has reduced the power in America, due to its illegality and opposition from established allies. Before the start of the Cold War, there was an incentive for Democrats and Republicans, two opposing parties, to collaborate; working together to eradicate the risks it faced from other states. However, since the end, there has been a lack of impetus for these parties to work together resulting in the growing vulnerability of the US

Party polarization is the division between the two major parties on most policy issues, with members of each party is unified around their party’s position with little crossover. The competing explanations for polarization are how congressional representatives are elected, lawmakers selecting a candidate for office and as congressional districts and states have become more homogeneous. Every 10 years, congressional district geographic boundaries are redrawn so that each district has roughly the same population. These districts are increasingly drawn to be safe for one political party or another so that the district has a clear majority of either republicans or Democrats. This process is known as gerrymandering.

Finally, it will be argued that the modern political party system in the United States is a two-party system dominated by the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. These two parties have won every United States presidential election since 1852 and have controlled the United States Congress since 1856. The Democratic Party generally positions itself as centre-left in American politics and supports a modern American liberal platform, while the Republican Party generally positions itself as centre-right and supports a modern American conservative platform. (Nichols, 1967)

Looking at document B you are able to see how the media in this case is clearly shaping the publics interest and informing the people, “The journalists at Good Morning America on Wednesday discussed Barack Obama’s State of the Union address for seven minutes and 19 seconds, but only allowed a scant 16 seconds for the GOP response ( a 27-1 disparity).” By only allowing the 16 seconds for the response they are controlling what issue are most talked about and they are controlling what we are most informed about. In document C when looking at the data you can see that Romney spent $5,892,480 alone on TV adds in Florida. He spent this much in campaign add to increase his voters turn out. A major part of campaigning is just getting your name out

In the article Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized America, Morris Fiorina addresses the issue of the illusion of political polarization. Political polarization is the separation of political beliefs into two separate extremes. The main illustration Fiorina uses is the use the electoral map. The electoral map is used to gauge which party won an election or polling.