The United States was founded on newly freed, educated peoples working together to find a solution to have a "fair" nation. Originally, politics strayed from typical street talk and were confined to rooms dripping in mahogany and BO. This worked for a while, as most people lacked the resources to understand the issues at stake.

But, times change, and while the United States grew, the people developed as well. As a result, remarkable revolutions occurred to secure rights for groups broader than the white male population.

All of this is driven by politics, how they affect the state and the people within. As more people joined the discussion on how the government should run, dissenting opinions were bound to arise. I believe that our democracy is most effective when people are able to come together and maturely discuss what they feel is right, and can, therefore, compromise and decide what best suits the nation's constituents. Unfortunately, an emerging trend stands out in our history and drastically continues today.

Political polarization is used to define the separation of political beliefs by turning toward the extreme forms of a given political party. The political climate of the United States has been negatively altered due to the numerous surfacing potent beliefs held on both sides of the aisle. Instead of politicians working together to fix the public's constant distaste of the government, political parties are forming factions that strongly identify with the extremist form of the party.

Due to the growing public interest in politics, people are vigorously latching onto a political party they identify with, and giving off an apathetic view toward whoever disagrees with them. Like Thomas Jefferson once stated, "The happiness of a society depends so much on preventing party spirit from infecting the common intercourse of life, that nothing should be spared to harmonize and amalgamate the two parties in social circles".

To reiterate, it's great that people are getting involved, but they should refrain from using this as a guideline toward hateful disdain of political differences.

I nostalgically yearn for the days I could freely express my political views without fear of irrationally losing a friend over conflicting views.

I'm appalled to say that political polarization throughout the United States is causing people to interact with each other in atrocious ways, and preventing veracious discourse that allows democracy to supersede differences. I hope that we can all start acting mature enough to prove that we deserve a seat at the political table (not excluding current politicians -- please get your crap together).

With that, I see a beautiful democracy on the horizon of everyone taking time to listen to each other, and accepting that just because it doesn't suit your beliefs, doesn't mean it's wrong. Can't wait to see y'all there!

The difference between the mainstream members of the two main parties barely differed not so long ago.

https://difficultrun.nathanielgivens.com/2018/04/05/pew-research-center-political-polarization-from-1994-2017/

This is just insane and shows how big of an issue political polarization is.

https://difficultrun.nathanielgivens.com/2018/04/05/pew-research-center-political-polarization-from-1994-2017/