I’m not the partisan type.
As much as I love politics and personally admire one candidate running for the presidency, I have never been the type to buy into the idea that we need to vote straight down the line in favor of one party. More and more though, I feel forced into partisanship by a disappearing middle.
It’s too easy if you’re a Republican to only make Republican friends, only follow Republican pages on Facebook, and only listen to Republican news. It’s equally too easy if you’re a Democrat to only read Democratic websites, only talk to your Democratic neighbors, and only follow Democratic feeds on Twitter.
It’s too easy in this wide-open country of more than 300 million passionately independent people to think in one of only two terms about politics: Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative.
This is especially true as you get closer to the heart of politics in Washington. Think tanks work with certain members of Congress and certain caucuses while neglecting others. Political operatives transfer between like-minded groups, and staffers join partisan softball and kickball leagues. Before we know it, two separate and distinct hemispheres of thought exist, and the world looks even more different between the two parties.
We love the age-old adage of America that out of many we are one:
E Pluribus Unum. The sad fact is, though, that when it comes to American politics today, another mantra would be more accurate.
E Pluribus Duo: Out of many, we are two.
The only time we come together today is in the face of national tragedy, but then only barely. Our unification after the shooting of Congresswoman Giffords lasted but a few short days, and the murder of American diplomatic officials in Libya was even fodder for the opposite of unity: further accusations, congressional hearings, and deepening partisanship.
This fact of modern political life is self-affirming and reproduces itself. Because Republicans in Congress adamantly obstruct any Democratic-leaning agenda item, those who lean Democratic are forced to vote straight down the line in favor of Democrats to get even one piece of Democratic legislation passed.
Meanwhile, Republican-leaners who want to see any Republican legislative action feel like it can only be accomplished through Republican control over every single branch of government. Recently in my home state of Iowa this even includes the nonpartisan judiciary, as judicial retention elections have been politicized to further the Republican social agenda.
Thus we continually recreate and enhance the conditions for stalemate and partisanship.
We see in the
Millennial Values survey results that almost 1-in-6 Obama supporters support President Obama mainly because of dislike for Mitt Romney, and 1-in-3 Romney supporters support Governor Romney because of dislike for Barack Obama. This is perhaps the most troubling aspect of this partisanship.
It would be less distressing if our competing visions for America inspired within us differing aspirations for a better country.
Rather, these competing visions for America inspire in us little vision at all. They instead inspire fear, bickering, and distrust of one another’s actions, values, and intentions. Fear mongering seems to be the tool of choice these days for political advantage.
So what is the answer? It must be both personal and structural.
Personally, individual political leaders must come together to address the issues of the day despite their differences of opinion. They can even look to the Berkley Center’s
Campus Conversation on Values for guidance if they like.
We students gathered and discussed values, policy, and politics despite our differences, and we found we learned constantly while doing so.
Structurally, we must counteract and regulate the market incentives that make partisan media so appealing. We must not contort the geography of our congressional districts to the point they become valueless, and primary elections recognize only the most extreme of opinions. Finally, we must not drown out the value of middle-income (and middle of the road) citizens’ donations with limitless millionaire donations that come with staunch opinions.
We must not be a nation of
E Pluribus Duo until a disaster forces us to come together. We must make listening a habit and dialogue a virtue to remind us that out of many, we are still one.
