Republican, Democrat, liberal, conservative. We love to see things, especially political topics, in black and white. But by obsessing over categorization in this way, we become closed-minded and less equipped to understand issues in great depth.
In the United States, we have a two-party political system. Independent parties rarely win seats in legislature, and we are dominated by the two sides, namely Republican and Democrat. As a result, when people get into politics in the U.S., they more than likely subscribe to one of these two parties, and so they become deeply divided politically.
This divide creates animosity between the two sides of the political spectrum. As someone who identifies as a Democrat and a liberal, I have been guilty of grouping people as “stupid Republicans,” criticizing conservatives as a cohesive group or choosing to watch MSNBC over Fox News. I have found that this attitude has limited me in my understanding of issues and my ability to accept new perspectives. For example, if you choose to watch Fox News, you probably see yourself as more conservative. Fox News caters to people with a more conservative view on issues. As a result, a conservative watching Fox News will be fed a conservative viewpoint of a certain news item and will just have the views he or she already possessed reinforced. Unfortunately, truly unbiased news stations just don’t exist. An effective way for someone to combat this could be to watch a news station presenting a completely different perspective than your own. The results could be one of two things: you notice they have a valid point and have thus opened your mind and maybe even changed it, or you are angered by the opinion but seeing it allows you to better form rebuttals for your view as you now understand the other side.
Often, a strong two-party system can deny us the chance to see issues more objectively. Am I being cynical to suggest that many times, members of Congress probably vote for or against certain things based on party biases and ties, as opposed to their true feelings on the issue? How many registered Democrats would be willing to vote for a Republican candidate, even if that candidate was better and had great ideas and charisma? Politics is often such a mess of self-promotion and economic incentives taking precedence over a lot of issues, that a lot of times there aren’t even many differences between Democrats and Republicans.
As a solution to these problems, I am not suggesting a dissolution of the two-party system. I think that it is the best system in democracy to provide order and allow there to be a majority in elections. Instead, I think individuals and politicians should try to be more open to seeing issues from other perspectives. There shouldn’t be a shame in a Republican agreeing with a Democratic ideal or vice versa. Don’t let your political party limit you; try to see the issue from as many ways as possible. Even if you hate that opinion with every fiber of your being, I guarantee it will provide you with some level of insight.