There are great American political leaders who have emphasized bipartisanship over the years, constantly being willing to at least dip into the other side of the aisle, or be friendly with members; Senators Joe Donnelly, Joe Manchin, Sue Collins, Lisa Murkowski, etcetera. Whatever your opinions about their politics, they are willing to vote with the other side of the aisle in the Senate, or, even with disagreements, be friendly with the other side. However, the U.S. body politic remains a virulent cesspool of hyper-partisanship, fueled by an us-vs-them narrative that continues to permeate each aspect of our politics, and turning many a sensible person into a dogmatic partisan hack.

First, let's set the stage. Though we have many periods prior to the past 30 years in which partisanship reigned supreme, it really escalated in intensity due to a select few individuals; one key member of this is former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich. The Gingrich Rule's namesake influenced GOPAC to utilize words such as "traitor" and "radical" to describe Democrats, while using "principled" and "opportunity" to describe Republican politicians and policies. Sounds a lot as if the plan was to further divide the American body politic. This has continued into the modern day; when the opposition party is described as a socialist party despite said-party being abhorred by socialists and only having a few people who essentially claim socialism (but it's definitely a misnomer because they are not socialists), that is a problem.

Of course, this can be found on the "other" side of the aisle; Democrats have done the same thing over the years, though through other means typically than political office. A really good recent example, though, is Richard Cordray referring to all Republicans as Nazis, which is remarkably inane. The general trend amongst establishment Democrats to do such a thing is concerning, but this general trend can be found outside of the political sphere as well. We have various celebrities who will decry all Republicans as Nazis, the South as an intellectual backwater in its' entirety, and Republicans as representing the antithesis of American values. They are demeaned as stupid and anti-intellectual for having different views regarding economics and other facets of the government, rather than offering up legitimate rebuttals. That is not a way to convert people.

Here's the issue; we currently are living and subsisting in a time where we have families dividing on the basis of politics. Marriages, anecdotally, have fractured. People are entirely unwilling to even connect with others on the grounds that their politics are "abhorrent" (even if it is just a person in the center, or left/right of center on the political spectrum). How this affects our government, however? Come on, neither party wants to be entirely consistent with oversight, especially in a one-party system. Even if I don't agree with a certain party's politics, they do provide something some others are not willing to do; oversight. They hold us accountable. Besides, just because I don't like policies overall, that does not mean we can not agree that certain plans are good for us across the board.

To be concise; I do not like how partisan our society has become. Look, I can disagree with policies and outlooks, sometimes pretty vehemently. However, I like to be cordial in my discussion of political views, in all honesty. I can be friends with people of many different political outlooks, and it is no issue. We can come together to agree on policies as well. However, it is... very difficult to interact with people nowadays. Obviously old systems have problems, but to have a friendly discourse nowadays seems impossible. Maybe that is just how it is supposed to be in the two-party system, which means we need OTHER parties in the system now, even if Democrats and Republicans continue to dominate.

At some point, a hard look is needed. We can continue to become overly acrimonious with one another, or we can at least try to coexist. If not, this will only further the divide. Thank you, Dinesh D'Souza, Charlie Kirk, Candace Owens, various celebrities like Alyssa Milano, Lena Dunham, and other political ideologues that have made us, at the very least, uncivil.