One of the easiest ways of determining the amount of freedom in a society is to examine how easy it is to get involved in the existing political system. In the United States, there are millions of workers involved in the political system who do so through lobbying initiatives, consulting firms, public policy firms, political parties and, of course, elected positions.
The latter of these, however, presents a disturbing situation in modern times. Recently, a spotlight has been shown on the two-party system in the United States. Now it seems more important for many to toe the party line as opposed to do that which is in the national interest. After a month of partisan gridlock, it feels as if America has been left out in the cold while the political leaders of the nation fight a civil war between the two parties.
In 2010, the tea party led a major conservative surge to elect conservatives into office following a two-year Democratic super majority. The organization in its infancy served as a valuable tool for the Republican Party. The energy and zeal of the tea party ignited a conservative fire, which had long since died out after the problems during the final years of the Bush administration. The problem is that, much like the excitement that followed John McCain’s nomination of Sarah Palin in 2008, the excitement gave way to panic as these newly empowered voices went “rogue.”
The far-right conservatives in the Republican Party serve and genuinely represent the opinions of their constituency; however, at the same time, their pounding of the ideological drum and their unwillingness to work with those more liberal than themselves only serve to further divide our country and bring our great Republic dangerously close to chaos.
The Republicans are not the only ones who play this partisan game. The Democratic Party is just as guilty at putting the elections of Democrats over the national interest. One of the best examples of this is the most recent announcement by the Obama administration to support and campaign for the Democratic hopeful for the Virginia governor’s race, Terry McAuliffe.
During McAuliffe’s career in Virginia, he has been embroiled in a number of corruption controversies, including the allegation in a recent report that he had invested with a Rhode Island estate planner who is now facing charges of using stolen IDs of the terminally ill. Many in Virginia recognize that McAuliffe’s corruption would ultimately hurt their commonwealth; however, the allegations have not stopped top Democratic leaders from coming out to campaign for McAuliffe. In their minds it is more important to beat the Republicans as opposed to letting a Republican win the governorship.
As Americans we must wake up and come to the realization that the only way to move our nation forward is by recognizing that party divisions and ideology will never be the solution to our problems. Instead, it is possible by working together and uniting our nation behind the common cause of strengthening it. As John F. Kennedy said, “Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept responsibility for the future.”
Kyle Jones is a sophomore majoring in political science and Spanish. His column runs biweekly.
