Finding the middle ground
Politicization of everyday things has become widespread in America, but can people come to a political compromise? COMMENTARY BY RAFAEL SANS, STAFF WRITER
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and Republicans reaches past resonating with voters who affiliate with their party. Each group actively works to eliminate the ‘middle ground’ as they try to sway non-party affiliated voters to support their fundamental views. With such extreme sides that are being exposed to these centrist people, they are being forced to pick a side and are politically bullied into submission by extremists. These polar views are not allowing either side to come to a consensus on what views on specific issues would be socially beneficial for the American people. “[People] straight up attack and attack instead of hearing [the other side] out,” sophomore Lucia Chico said. The nonstop political upheaval in the nation has left it in a state that neither side wants. A study conducted by the Pew Research Center determined to what degree Republicans and Democrats criticized each other based on a multitude of negative characteristics. It showed that 42% of Democrats think that Republicans are more dishonest than other Americans.
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Similarly, concerning the same type of ethical criticism, 47% of Republicans claim that Democrats are more immoral than other Americans. These statistics are relatively balanced with both sides expressing comparatively a similar amount of criticism to the other partisan side. “When I used to teach civics in middle school, I used to give them this questionnaire. It was a basic thing. And it was like, ‘Am I a Democrat or a Republican?’,” Miller said. “Nine times out of 10 what most people realized is that they were not one or the other, they were 60/40 of some combination, if not 50/50 but almost never was somebody 100% blindly in support with the views of a party.” With this in mind, it is evident that anyone can support a combination of various political views. One can support a strong policy of law and order, yet may still accept the current state of climate change. There are various partisan groups that have emerged that are politically founded on a middle ground. Conservative democrats and liberal republicans are a prime example of individuals from a specific partisan group accepting and advocating for more centrist views. In congress, this group of individuals are known as the “Blue Dog Coalition,” who advocate for centrist policies in congress. Here in the U.S., if voters base their views on those of more tolerant and centripetal groups, then there would be less heightened social clash throughout the nation and more educated and receptive political debate. h Sharon
S TENSIONS rise between Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. with little to no consideration for the opposite view, the country is being torn apart from the inside out. The American people need to close the nation’s political divide and open a middle ground so they can effectively settle matters of dispute. When considering controversial headlines in mainstream media like gun-control, climate change and the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election, Democrats and Republicans have been confined to two seemingly opposite stereotypes. Democrats are typically thought to be more liberal, advocating for radical change in America’s system and primarily reject the ideologies of Republicans who are thought to push to maintain the traditions that make up the constitutional system of America. This causes major political conflict as many voters immediately disregard all candidates tied to their opposing party, regardless of the politicians’ individual views. Roughly only one in ten voters affiliated with the Republican Party since 2018 have leaned towards a Democratic candidate in an election, according to the Pew Research Center . “I find that every time I even get into an argument about politics right now, it goes to one view: far left [or] far right,” social studies teacher Aaron Miller said. This political chess match between Democrats
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