The United States of America, the name implies a country that is, well united. Is this true? This day and age so much has become about Republican vs. Democrat, the left vs. the right, conservative vs. liberal. It has dominated media and news that it is impossible to get information about politics, or even what is going on in the world without it being solely informative and not persuasive. The two party system has become so imbedded in the citizens of the United States that which party you agree with more can even be seen as a part of who you are or your personality.
Although there are other political parties such as libertarian or independent, neither have as much power, money, or support that the Democrats and Republicans have. Why does this matter? The obsession with the two parties has led to many citizens of the USA to not look past the parties when it comes to policies and laws, rather what party backed the policy or idea. An individual could even agree with the simple outline and thoughts in a policy, or think its a good idea, but if they found out that it was apart of the party that they do not support, chances are they won’t continue to support that policy or idea.
This can also happen with people in politics. If a person liked the general ideas of a candidate, but they were not apart of the same political party, chances are that the individual is not going to vote against their own political party. There is also an option on political ballots to vote for straight Democrats all the way through the ballot or straight Republicans all the way through the ballot. This means it is possible that people do not even know who they are voting for and why they are voting for them other than what party that candidate is a part of.
Another issue with the two party system is the amount of time and money that goes into campaigning for each of the parties and their candidates. The money that goes towards campaigning could be put towards much more important things, it could literally save lives. Or the parties could use the money to actually make change in the communities and nations that they are trying to serve and get elected in, instead of spending it on advertisements that never fully explain their goals, opinions, and just lack information to truly educate about the candidates.
The way that the United States could take steps to resolve this problem is by no longer putting labels on candidates, or any political figure, or policies. This forces people to make more educated opinions about who they are voting for and what they support. It also focuses on the United States as a whole instead of two separate parties. Overall citizens are more educated, money and time is not wasted on campaigning, and the United States could potentially not be so divided.
