Today something is happening that is unparalleled across the entirety of the United States of America: increasingly, Americans seem to occupy alternate universes.  *Each side finds no room for compromise, each battle it out over their perception of reality.  Neither side seems to have much use for each other and in the current generation of media, the phrase “much use for one another” may be too generous.  There are groups that are driving this nation further and further apart.  It is not hard to see this division in society today.  It can be seen in the bias in news organizations, in print, or on television; politicians are not even willing to acknowledge their fellow legislators just because of the party they identify with.  It is happening in the classroom, *with peers and teachers, *in your family and even some of your closest friends.  All of these factors have contributed to this problem of polarization, and *this “new reality” has no foreseeable end in sight.  It has become acceptable to some Americans to no longer use words to convey their argument but rather resort to violence.  Meanwhile, *there has been fighting a never-ending war in the Middle East trying to defeat people who do the same: *resorting to violence instead of conversation to get across their argument.  This issue of America’s political divide is no longer something that can be put off, it has to be addressed and it has to be addressed now or else our country will continue to break apart and one day, it will be too late to fix it.  Many Americans need to realize that when they try to censor someone by verbal abuse or physically assaulting them rather than taking them on a verbal debate they are not showing the world that the person is wrong, they are showing the world that they are not willing to debate that person. But sadly, that is often forgotten.  By no means take this as assuming that people should all think and do the same things but rather just be able to have a conversation about *beliefs and not have to fear for people’s well-being.  This issue has single cause but instead a whole list of people organizations and establishments all contributing to the issue.  America’s two-party system needs to be abolished, *in order for the United States to prevent a pending collapse, from chaos ensuing, government standstills, and growing hatred among American citizens growing.

*This issue came to the forefront of American politics after a speech in 1796 by one of America’s great leaders who saw this threat over 200 years ago.  Since George Washington’s inaugural address, there has been a two-party system that has been an integral part American democracy for over two centuries. It’s also over two centuries outdated.

Democracy for over two centuries.  Meaning, America has been using a system that is two centuries outdated.  Before George Washington left the oval office, he warned the American people *about the three things that could destroy America’s democracy *they were excessive debt, foreign wars and hyper-partisanship.  President Washington later singled out hyper-partisanship in his inaugural address stating, “The alternate domination of one faction over another sharpened by the spirit of revenge natural dissension…is itself a frightful despotism,” (Washington).  President George Washington knew that opposing parties would mercilessly seek to undermine each other at the expense of the American people and this building resentment between parties would slowly but surely cripple our country and tear down something he worked so hard to build up.  Now in 2017, the effects of everything he feared have become a reality and like he said, they are taking down the country.  This issue--unlike others--tears a country apart from the inside out, leading to hatred amongst Americans.  People are no longer labeling themselves American but instead Democratic, Liberal, Republican, Conservative, etc.,   which is preventing rational conversation and the legislative process from actually work.  Going against President Washington’s advice has dug the country into quite a hole to get out of and most see this as an impossible issue.  Simply put by the great Alexandre Dumas, “All for one and one for all, united we stand divided we fall.”  President Washington knew the potential of the United States as he wrote down his inaugural address and it has certainly become something great, but he also knew the country he loved so much, no matter how great it became, *could still topple down like many great empires have done before. **The two-party system has been flawed since conception and only should have only been something learned from history textbooks.

Right now, in the United States government there is a deadlocked congress and senate which produces national headlines for conflict and chaos instead of big pieces of legislation *inflicting positive change and lives it has changed for the better, we only hear about the conflict and chaos that goes on in the White House.  This problem of politicians starts at the top of the hierarchy, that being the President of the United States, Donald Trump.  In a time where we need a true leader to unite this broken country, the current President does not even resemble that in the slightest.  He has made it acceptable for politicians and American citizens to resort to name calling and insults while talking down to people they disagree with instead of approaching them in rational conversation.  This has had a trickledown effect to politicians, news media and American citizens.  A recent Pew study found that 81% of voters can no longer agree with the other party on basic facts.  How could there ever be normalcy between the two opposing parties if over 4/5ths of think the other side is too ignorant* to* understand basic facts?  Basic facts are supposed to be basic, not some ever so complicated issue that is dragged out.  This can no longer be the norm and* while it started at the top, everyone is responsible for it continuing and gaining momentum.  **Something that has really come into its own-and not in a good way-is people not admitting that they simply do not know or that they are plain wrong.  One of best parts of the two-party system is also one of its fatal flaws-and that is its sheer reach and size in America.  The benefit being that has a large reach and influence.  The negative comes from the fact that since it is so large in size the party has to beholden to a particular set of morals and ideals.  For example, in the Republican party fiscal responsibility, small government, pro-life, pro-gun and on the other side for the Democrats they follow the morals and ideals of big government, liberalism and pro-choice.  People and politicians get handcuffed to their party and these principles, making them unable to work across party lines without being labeled a traitor because they want to express how they truly feel on an issue.  Most recently, Senator John McCain’s vote against the Republicans attempt at replacing The Affordable Care Act, proved this point.  Most Republicans did not care that he did the right thing by vetoing a terrible bill that would result in tens of millions losing health care, he was seen as a Benedict Arnold type.  Someone should not be a traitor by working with their colleagues to make the best possible piece of legislation.  **This impasse has resulted in political gridlock, with virtually no legislation ever being passed.  In Obama’s eight years he struggled with this constantly.  During President Obama’s tenure, 965 laws were enacted by congress.  Comparatively, from 2003 to 2009 there were over 500 more laws enacted by congress.  President Trump ten months into his presidency is currently experiencing the same troubles as President Obama’s term, but on a much greater scale.  In fact, he has yet to get a significant piece of legislation passed through congress and the senate.  This is a scary trend that gets increasingly worse with each day that goes by.  Without legislation being passed our country can never progress, and if you are not moving forward you are getting left behind.  The greatest threat to the well-being of the United States at this point is the two square miles that encompasses the capital.  

America is one entity and it should be treated as such.  The news media is a part of the problem as well, helping perpetuate the idea of two contentious sides in America.  To see it play out, simply turn on the television to stations like CNN and FOX, each presenting the side of the argument that suits their agenda misleading their audience to believe one thing over the other.  Like host Sean Hannity of Fox News informing his audience about the “real” Russia story all along is tied to Hillary Clinton not Donald Trump even though he has no basis or facts backing up that claim.  Additionally, there are a* plethora of different voices being heard across the spectrum and the way to stick out from the pack is to say something with shock value like presenting stories like the one of above.  That is why people are no longer driven by their passion for their own party but rather a hatred for the other.  Looking at *the candidates’ debate commercials in the 2016 elections, it looked a lot more like fight night rather than being about two individuals talking about their policy.  They have made American politics into a TV soap opera looking for every possible angle even if it is false.  This has helped lead to politics really becoming personal, resulting in people no longer being able tolerate the other side*.  A large majority of people now live in echo chambers, a Pew research study showed that over 50% of Americans now live in counties with the same political beliefs as themselves and there is no longer just having a differing opinion with another person (Pew Research Center).  A huge percentage of Americans see the other side as actively trying to destroy their country and as most people would do if they saw something that they loved being destroyed, they would do anything to try to stop it. This goes to show as much as politicians and the news media is to blame for this problem.  *Americans have some take some part of the blame for the situation *as well.  By not taking off those rose-colored glasses in 2017, citizens are doing a disservice to themselves and others.  People need to know that news organizations are not incentivized to bring you the truth, they are incentivized by profits therefore ratings.  It is sad but now more than ever as a whole we need to fact check and hold news organizations accountable.  Remember, everyone lives in a world where facts matter less than how* they are presented. 

Looking to other countries as inspiration to change the current two-party American system, which as of now discourages voter turnout.  On the basis of the majority of people feel like if they do not vote Democrat or Republican their vote is useless.  Unsurprisingly when there are two major parties trying to cover 330 million people’s ideas and values, people are bound to feel left out.  According to a recent Gallup poll, currently 61% of Americans feel the two-party system is not letting their voice be heard and another party is necessary (Gallup).  America should look to more proportional alternatives like in Germany, Israel and Australia.  These countries use a Party-List system that proportionally divvies up the seats based on voting percentage.  For example, party A gets 50% of the vote, party B gets 30% of the vote, and party C receives 20% of the vote, this system would proportionally divvy up the seats in the government according to the percentage of votes received.  Instead of a winner take all method the United States.  This would prevent voting fallacies like in North Carolina where Democrats received close to ½ of the total votes, but currently the Democrats representation in the State government is less than 1/3.  Following this system gives voters a much wider range of options because smaller parties with less funding would actually have a chance of representing their party in the government.  Since it would make it much more likely for someone to cast their vote for a smaller party if they think it will actually count and not be a wasted vote.  Since this system has been implemented in these respective countries it has led to substantially higher voter turnout in all of them, and light years ahead in voter turnout comparatively to the United States.

This problem of our political division needs to be addressed now before it becomes irreversible.  *United States citizens, *should be united as one, that is when any country is at their strongest.  As one collective force, America is impossible to stop.  Looking at some of the best times in America it points to when* citizens aligned and could compromise on issues.  It could be argued one of America’s best times was during the FDR presidency, where people worked together as one unit.  There was legislation that passed that still benefits us to this day and during this presidency America was solidified as the world superpower.  It remains true to this day but we as a country are only kidding ourselves if we think this title is automatically ours forever.  Like Russia has already done-or rather tried to do-in our last presidential election, countries will seize the opportunity if they sense they have a chance to bring America down.  To give an idea how easy it was for the Russia government to successfully interfere with our democratic process at the highest stage also known as the presidential election, the Russians took down a campaign that had over one billion dollars invested into their candidate Hillary Clinton-all with some controversial Facebook and other social media advertisements that cost just a few hundred thousand dollars. That is unacceptable that a foreign government could completely disrupt everything America holds so sacred.  **The fact our democratic process was severely disrupted with social media posts—paid and unpaid—boggles the mind.  If this is not a sign of how fragile the system is and that something needs to be done, then what is?

The way to solve this issue is comparatively easy: abolish the party system.  Citizens--including politicians--should not be tied to a belief or ideal just because of their party.  Now more than ever people are afraid to admit that they are wrong or just say simply I do not know.  But involvement of parties makes such a simple answer needlessly complicated.  Another thing that parties contribute is make simple and clear issues much more chaotic than they ever need to be because God forbid they align with the opposing party.  Something that is often forgotten is many politicians are not working primarily for their constitutes, they are working to be reelected*.   If they do not get reelected they are essentially out of a job and for many people the most addictive thing is no* drug it is power, once someone has power it is hard to loosen the grip.  Currently in today’s electoral system it is close to impossible to be elected or reflected without support from the Republican or Democratic parties.  If you decide to be that brave soul to go against the pack both political parties will drop you in a blink of an eye and find someone who will support their agenda. **At the end of the day in a capitalistic society the answer to every question is money.  Yet, by removing money, influence and power from outside sources and putting it back into the hands that got elected through our democratic process, there can be some real change made.  
