If you check any sort of social media or talk about politics just once throughout the day you are guaranteed to hear two very particular party names, Republican and Democrat.
These are the two top political parties that dominate our two-party system and hold a great deal of power over politics in our country. Having different political parties is amazing for giving communities and people options to become involved in the political world in America. However, these parties have become so ingrained into our social society that it appears the negative implications of them are far more prevalent than before. Our two-party political system has driven a wedge between the American people and the negative energy associated with politics has been on the rise for decades.
I first noticed the intense conflict between the two parties on social media of all places. On social media I follow Republicans, Democrats, Independents, you name it, and I see posts relating to all sorts of political issues, but recently I've noticed a lot of posts aiming to discredit or attack a party or person that shares opposing views. I've spent many hours getting sucked into the political world of Twitter and I've come out feeling more distraught than ever. Seeing people who don't even know each other attack the personal character of others just for supporting different ideas deeply disheartens me. What's crazy to me is that these people hiding behind screen names on social media have no problem trying to tear down their fellow Americans and it's not to get their point across anymore, it's because they genuinely don't like or value this other person's opinion just because it's not the same as theirs.
Don't get me wrong though, I completely understand that we need these different views and opposing ideas so that we may run an efficient democracy. Sadly, the party system we have in place is intensifying this issue so great that we aren't getting much of anything done other than separating the United States into two different extremes. Recently a photo went viral depicting a billboard urging liberals to leave Texas. Texas is known for being a highly Republican state and I actually go to school in Texas and have witnessed firsthand devout Republicans verbally attack the ideals of Democrats. However, this doesn't just happen in Texas, in fact, I'm from California which has predominantly Republican regions as well as Democratic regions and I've seen devout Democrats in California verbally attack the ideals of Republicans in the same way I've seen in Texas.
We are all Americans yet these two political parties and the extremists on both sides are dividing our nation into just Republicans and Democrats and even though social media has brought this issue to light, it's also been intensifying it.
