While Donald Trump proposes a Mexican border wall, Bernie Sanders endorses a political revolution of democratic socialism. Both candidates have been met with entirely unpredictable success. The support these radically opposite candidates have received is an example of the widening gap between left and right political ideologies in America today.
A year ago, if someone told me that Donald Trump, an oddly tinted businessman and TV personality, was running for president, I would never have believed it. But Trump certainly is running, and he’s been met with alarming success in the polls, generally coming out on top of his other republican adversaries. Trump tends to pander to conservative America, a demographic which has previously been a fringe group lurking on the edges of the far right.
Frustration and anger tend to be central themes in Donald Trump's speeches. America’s greatness has been lost at the hands of immigrants, Muslims, and perhaps even women. Trump promises to restore that former glory.
His solution? Build a 30-foot wall between America and Mexico and ban all Muslim immigrants from entry to the US, forcing the remaining ones to “wear identification.”
After all of this, it’s hard to believe that anyone would support him. But the most disturbing part of Trump’s candidacy is how many people his words resonate with. His supporters feel that he "says what everyone is thinking." This may be true if everyone in the country is a racist, misogynistic, xenophobe.
Meanwhile, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is proposing radical new bills and an entire political reform influenced by "democratic socialism." Sanders is widely supported by many young people and continues to rise in the polls. With no super PAC, Sanders has been relying on the donations of his supporters to fund his candidacy and he has already surpassed Hillary Clinton in funding. His plan of action includes raising minimum wage, offering free college tuition at public state schools and supporting free healthcare. These cultural changes are not particularly revolutionary or dangerous, as many countries around the world such as Canada, Denmark and other Nordic nations have already adopted them with great success.
But the presidential candidates are merely a symptom of a changing nation. Sociopolitical ideologies are polarizing rapidly. On one hand, Mississippi governor declares April ‘Confederate History month’ and on the other, protesters demand the removal of the confederate flag from the Capitol building in South Carolina. Liberals are more liberal and the conservatives even more angry then before. #BlackLivesMatter still demands social justice, but only this week two men were stabbed with a flag at a recent Ku Klux Klan ‘White Pride’ rally in Anaheim, California. What can be seen in politics and the American culture is more than racial dichotomies or political beliefs. We are seeing a systematic shift, a faceoff between hope and frustration. It’s motivation for positive change versus regression to former glory. Our country and our world seem to be changing faster and faster and as they do, these two different ideologies are amplified as urgency grows. No one can truly predict where we are heading or what the next years will bring us so we might as well just buckle up and get ready for one hell of a ride.
