When I realized that I would be eligible to vote this past election, I felt extremely conflicted. I knew that it was my “civic duty” to vote, but I just didn't know what to do. At the time I was still in high school and every day in school talk of the election would come up even though I wasn’t even taking a history class. My own parents were extremely conflicted as well. Growing up, politics weren’t really talked about much in my house and I knew that neither of my parents sided with a political party. I heard many different things from everywhere around me. It was difficult for me because even though throughout all my years of school I was always good at history, i never was really a fan of the politics side of history. I guess because talking politics was never something really brought up in my house growing up and my parents never mentioned anything, I didn't grow up with the idea that we were “Republicans” or “Democrats”. But even after the election, that I didn't vote in, I still didn't know who I would've voted for. I saw pros and cons to each candidate.
But when it all comes down to it, I'm a firm believer that our original president, George Washington had it right when it came to politics. People try to label him as a federalist, even though he staunchly opposed political parties.He had both federalist ideals and democratic-republican ideals and didn’t conform like his successors did. Even though he existed hundreds of years ago, his beliefs on political parties ring true in my ears. In a nutshell, Washington opposed political parties because he believed that they would divide us. As Americans we are known to believe that it is ,“One nation, indivisible under God”. But are we truly indivisible when there is such a division in our country right now?
It’s my personal belief that political parties are a facade that we have created for ourselves and instead of fighting each other we should be doing our part to make our country the best it can be. I understand that some see political parties as necessary. But we are not meant to conform. Even if you identify as a democrat or republican, I find it hard to believe that everyone who identifies themselves as a member of one of these parties wholeheartedly believes or supports everything that their parties stand for (ie, not all Republicans support death penalty, etc.). I see the arguments from both sides. But when it comes down to it shouldn't we all be on the same side? Political parties do so much more harm than good. I’m not trying to offend anyone who does consider themselves to be a Democrat or Republican but when you look at our country’s current state, the division is wide and apparent, maybe even more so than ever. Disbanding political parties would not solve all of our problems but they might help bring our nation closer together.