I don’t claim to know much about politics. I can’t say I follow everything that goes on in our government. It’s a complicated system and one that I know others are far more suited to understand and participate in. But I don’t think anyone can deny that the system is flawed, especially in our recent political climate. A lot of it comes down to our steadfast hold to the bipartisan system.
In my most basic understanding of what this means, it is the system we have set in place in every part of our government where each person chooses a political party to affiliate themselves with. In our country, it is between the liberals and the conservatives, or the Democrats and the Republicans. One is represented by the color blue and a donkey, the other by red and an elephant. One side believes in pro-choice while the other believes in less gun control. This system is inherently divisive. Of course there are other third parties available, such as the Independent or Green Parties, which may combine those opposite sets of beliefs or allow for some variation of them. But not much room is left when the two major parties are so dominant. Our political races are funded by each major party, and since the others are smaller, the focus and awareness is only on those who identify as a Democrat or a Republican.
The Democratic and Republican parties are built on the notion that they serve as complete opposites. This principle has negatively affected the unity of our country, especially in recent years. People view those in the opposite party sometimes as less than human because the divide has become that severe. Why are we so caught up in the need to disagree when what we really need is to stand together and understand the other no matter their beliefs? We’re all just people trying to be people, and the more systems we have in place to separate ourselves, the worse off we’ll be.
I’m certainly not saying that if you associate with either of these parties that you are a terrible person (I think that defeats the whole point), but it never hurts to step back and see how the institutions we have set in place are causing us to think. It is never a bad idea to go about everything you do with love, with the purpose of understanding, accepting and caring for others in a time that needs that more than anything.