As a proponent of the democratic system at work, it is delightful to see Americans engaged in their civil duty to vote. However, with the United States’ 2012 presidential elections quickly approaching, the overall tone within the country’s environment is that of segmentation. A gargantuan division is occurring between Americans during this political campaigning season. The sharp divide between the two major American political parties seems to have taken precedence over the actual issues the country faces. An unhealthy level of partisanship has taken center stage, while the nation-state’s leaders and its civilians are left disgruntled, divided, discontent, or even worse, disinterested. Since when has the idea of Republicans and Democrats coming to a consensus to resolve matters of the state become unfathomable? Partisanship has dominated the political scene of the United States while bipartisanship seems to be all by a fable. Has bipartisanship become an obsolete paradigm within the U.S. political system?
Partisanship is now the focal point of the election season. The reverberation of both the Republican National Conventions (RNC) and the Democratic National Conventions (DNC) has placed a significant emphasis on a comparison of the two parties within the news media. These comparisons range from pointing out differences in the diversity of each convention; the lack of organization of one party compared to the other… to the drastic difference in attire expenses of First Lady Michelle Obama to the First Lady hopeful Anne Romney. While some of these points could be argued important for political analysis, almost all take away from the true issues America is facing today.
Unemployment, healthcare, education, immigration, racism, foreign policy, national security and estranged international relations are all major issues that the sovereignty’s leaders must acknowledge and rectify. However, all of these things will be drastically more difficult to fix if the nation concentrates on a battle of the political parties. If anything, this polarization could exacerbate many of the issues that need fixing. The composition of the houses has made virtually all legislation nearly impossible to pass. Persecutions of high ranking officials, i.e. Attorney General Holder, over matters beyond their control have become covert tactics for dismembering opposing political parties; and political conventions have now become grounds primarily for roasting the other candidates instead of placing emphasis on proposing alternative solutions.
I will admit, watching these past conventions and the jabs made toward each opponent was thoroughly entertaining at times. And there may be a place for jabs in this environment. However, the American public and its government are in danger of losing its grip on reality and the issues that matter most. This is not to say that a utopian society can one day be created within the U.S. that calls for absolute cooperation of differing political parties. There will always be various levels of conflict and clashing of ideologies. The options to choose one’s stance and argue against positions that are in opposition to your own ideals are what make democracy beautiful.
Therefore, the purpose of this blog is simply to redirect the thoughts of many Americans who may have lost their focus of what the purpose of our nation’s government: not whose party is better, but what policies are best for the United States and its people. This is a call for less partisanship and a more bipartisan mentality. It is not too late to rally for bipartisanship and increased efficacy in negotiations. However, if Americans lose sight of this ideology, bipartisanship will indeed become a thing of the past and America may lose its opportunity to regain the strength it once had.
Hello Constance,
First off – very nice article. I’ve always followed US politics quite closely. Indeed, there is an emphasis on bipartisanship that doesn’t exist in the UK or Portugal, other two countries whose politics I am familiar with. This is probably because we don’t have a bipartisan but a multiparty system. Perhaps, we are at a loss for this. In spite of all this, bipartisanship is nothing other than common sense.
Your observations are great, and I think you are correct in identifying political polarization (though unfortunately not the ‘liberal revolution’ that I’d hope for LOL) however I am not sure you are talking about bipartisanship being obsolete, which implies it is no longer of use, that it has been overcome by some superior form of political dialectic, but rather that it is outmoded or rarified. In fact, calling bipartisanship obsolete is almost a critique of it, which I think is the exact opposite of what you’re intending with this article.
Anyway, congratulations on the article.
Best regards,
Miguel