When people talk about politics, I feel as if it's always one side trying to prove that they are smarter/better/more intelligent than the person that they are talking to (usually it's two opposing parties). Most of the time the conversation ends with both people fuming trying to get their point across. The funny part is you can see prime examples of this whenever you switch on CNN, FOXNEWS, MSNBC, etc. The next time you watch one of these major networks, just wait and listen for them to try and blame a problem on the opposing party. I bet you it doesn't take more than five minutes before one side starts to blame the problems in this country on the other side.
This epidemic we face of political party differences is present from the average joe that lives in Nebraska, all the way to the top political officials in our country. Time and time again I hear about how people only vote for one political party. Do you know how absurd and absolutely childish this statement is?! I've even talked to an individual who has said in the latest Presidential election that they voted Republican even though they despised Donald Trump, because "I've voted Republican my entire life". I wanted to slap that person, to say the least.. It just baffles me how invested some people are in the political parties even if it shakes their core beliefs. I can't stress this enough for the people that I talk to, Vote for the candidate that shares you core beliefs regardless of party, it's honestly that simple. I consider myself as an Independent because I honestly do not care what party I vote for, if said candidate proposes ideas that I agree with and that I hold dear to myself, they will get my vote 100% of the time.
I was flipping through channels one day when I came across the House of Representatives voting on bill. When the tallies were starting to come in I was astonished on the voting results, almost all party members vote against one another's bill. If a bill was proposed by a Republican it would get votes mostly only by other Republicans, and scarcely from other Democrats.
It's almost as if each party is out for one another. I feel as if they are just two rival gangs in suits and ties.
What also baffles me is how childish our top government officials are when it comes down to political parties. For example, with the whole Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), proposed by Democrats, is currently in the process of getting replaced with the American Health Care Act, a bill proposed by the Republicans. I'm sure everyone has heard that if the act gets passed some 21 million people will be left uninsured. Instead of trying to replace the bill with one made by your own party, why not keep the one in place, but make adjustments to it that you see fit. I feel as if with the new Trump administration, they are just trying to undue everything the Democrats have put together in the last eight years, and I'm sure if the Democrats get back into office in another 3 or 7 years, they will try to undue everything the Republicans laid down in that time.
How can our country move forward and get better as a whole if the top officials can't build off one another instead of trying to undue/shoot-down everything the opposite party does/proposes. It honestly sickens me.
I'll leave this post with a quote from one of the best Presidents in United States history, who as a matter of fact, was not affiliated with any political parties.
"However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion."
-George Washington
To put in layman's terms, Washington was warning the American people against the negative impact that opposing political parties could have on the country. During his presidency he witnessed firsthand the rise of the Democratic-Republican party in opposition to the Federalists and worried that future political squabbles would undermine the concept of popular sovereignty in the United States.
So next time you vote for someone because "I've always voted Republican/Democrat", ask yourself if they hold the same core beliefs as you.
Stay Classy.