The 2016 election was not only one of the most surprising elections in our nation’s history, but it was also one of the most shifting for the two main political parties.
We saw both parties make leaps towards the further end of their respected spectrum. With candidates like Bernie Sanders, who vouched for very socialist policies, and Donald Trump, who tended to be one of the more nationalist candidates to ever run.
Not to mention Hillary Clinton, the woman who practically stole the nomination from Bernie through the Democratic Parties corrupt process of rewarding the superdelegates.
The election, obviously, ended in Donald Trump's surprising victory, and a Democratic Party that was trying everything to come to terms with their loss, which many still have not been able to even 2 years after the election. As a conservative that gave Donald Trump my vote, things were looking on the up for the direction I was hoping this country would be going.
Today, my mindset has since changed. What has caused it? Easy, the polarization taking place in our nation's politics, and the two main parties sliding farther to the right and left of the political X-Axis. Like most developed nations, most of the population sits around the center of the political spectrum, meaning parties that wish to have the most votes, will need to appeal most to the centrist group, for they will determine the outcome of the elections every time.
What happens when these parties start abandoning their centrist ideals, and start to move towards the more extreme ends of the spectrum?
The center voice starts to feel unrepresented by their parties. They will be faced with very limited options, they would either move with the party towards the extreme end, like most have already done, or they would need to search for another candidate, or even a 3rd party.
Unfortunately, both results are ineffective once the mainstream has decided to latch on to the extremism. Most of the centrist voting population does not align with the socialist views held by Bernie, or even the nationalist views held by Trump, yet both parties are adopting these views and abandoning others.
This is why politics has become taboo for family discussion, or why people cannot seem to be able to respect the views of others, because their parties are telling them to block out any opposition.
The Hypocrisy of the Parties
After the introduction of the massive spending bill by the Trump administration, totaling a whopping 1.3 trillion dollars, we can start to see just how much the parties are beginning to change. Running on balancing the budget and reducing government spending, this bill was a massive middle finger to the fiscal conservatives, like myself, that gave him our votes in 2016.
While on the other side of the spectrum, we see the left also freaking out over the spending in this bill, while they had no problem with it while the Obama administration added over 9 trillion to our nation’s debt.
What can we do?
Thankfully, this all has a simple fix. Vote. Do not let the swing of the parties dictate the future of our republic, do not be afraid to cross party lines and vote for the person that represents what you believe in. Talk. Do not be afraid to have civil discussion with those who have opposing views of your own, only by restoring the bipartisanship that once founded this great country, will we be able to get back on track.
We the people, have the power to fix our extremist politics, we the people must either pull the parties back to center, or dethrone them as the ruling parties.
