In his farewell address in 1796, George Washington warned the American people that engaging in political factions or parties would obstruct the execution of the laws created by the government and even prevent the branches of government from exercising constitutional powers. It’s a shame we didn’t listen to him.
Polarization in the United States has increased since the 1970s, with rapid increases in polarization during the 2000s onwards.
The two main parties in the United States are the Democrats and the Republicans. Their ideologies have changed immensely since their creation.
The Democratic party’s origins are usually traced back to James Madison and Thomas Jefferson’s Democratic-Republicans party in 1792. That party died out and made way for the Jeffersonians, Whigs, and modern Republican Party. Many historians argue that the modern Democratic party started in the 1820s with the election of Andrew Jackson.
The Republican Party was founded in 1854 in the Northern United States by ex-Whigs, ex-Free soilers, and opposers to slavery.
In the early years, the Republican party was liberal, and the Democrats were conservative. This can be confusing because it is the exact opposite of how Americans would describe their parties today. This happened through the “great switch,” slow changes in ideologies that completely switched the party’s beliefs.
According to the Pew Research Center, the US is almost evenly split between Democrats and Republicans, with 49% of registered voters being Democrats and 48% being Republicans.
An opposing side says we are not as politicized as we think. Some say that many US politicians are feeding the public narratives to make Americans believe that they’re more divided than they are. As convincing as some conspiracy theories can be, I don’t believe that is true.
One of the best modern examples of the polarization of the US is the events of the Jan. 6 attack on the capital. The Jan. 6 attack on the capital consisted of around 2,000 supporters of Republican President Donald J. Trump was angry at the 2021 election results.
This is a prime example of what President Washington warned the American People about. I would even go as far as to say that this extreme politicization in the US has prevented many Americans from making friendships with the opposing political party.
The Death of the US might not be solely because of political parties but also outside factors that increase polarization, such as disinformation and artificial intelligence. As of 2022, only 42% of Americans reported getting media literacy in High School, which is a concerning number based on how much fake news there is on the internet.
With artificial intelligence, people can create “deepfakes” of political candidates and falsify their statements to enhance political rage. With the advancements in AI, these deepfakes are pretty convincing and can trick anyone, even with media literacy.
The polarization of the US is affecting democracy in a way that makes it almost impossible to reach compromises in government. A prime example is raising the US debt ceiling. For years, Congress has struggled to pass routine increases to the debt limit because of intense partisan divides such as in 2023 when House Republicans refused to approve an increase unless Democrats agreed to significant spending cuts.
If the government were to work at its prime, we would need political parties to get along and form compromises for the betterment of the country as a whole, not individual parties.
