In George Washington’s final address to the country, he warned against the formation of political parties. Political parties lead to further division of our country, destroying our united front. No one listened to him, and now look where we are.
Political parties are echo chambers that antagonize the other side while casting a blind eye to their inner problems.
“I think political parties are somewhat dumb because they cause bias and discrimination,” said senior Ben Callanan.
“If you are a democrat you’ll vote only for democrats even if you don’t like them, and same for Republicans. That’s just a bad way to look at who you should vote for.”
In a 2022 Pew Research Center study, 39% of surveyed people said the statement “I often wish there were more political parties to choose from in this country” aligned with their views well or very well. Political parties cause people to stop talking with the other side. Democrats only talk to other democrats about politics, and vice versa. We need to bridge the gap with conversation between both sides to start communicating with the other camp. This either/or logical fallacy that is political parties presents Americans with only two choices: Left or Right. But what about Americans who support some democratic policies, while supporting other republican values?
Instead of political parties, politicians should run based on their policies, and that’s how they should be judged. Politicians should not align with parties because then they cannot be bought by bigger corporations, coerced into changing different policies to align with a company’s profits. A person should not look at a candidate and think “Oh, they are a democrat/republican so I will vote for them.” instead think, “I wonder what this candidate’s policies are on the economy/abortion/immigration.”
With this “us v.s. them” mentality, the future of this country is looking grim. No matter who wins the presidential election, hundreds of millions of Americans will not be happy. Whether it be another insurrection, or protests in the streets, big things are coming in the political field. This is the most important election of our lifetimes, so no matter who won, we need to stand together as one country. Not as two broken parties, but as one group of Americans.
