What Would it Take?
Underneath the systemic issues in our political world is rampant, forced polarization of views. Media, social and traditional uses recommendation engines to favor content that is sensational, even if it's not fact-based to encourage users to view, like and recommend it to others, further polarizing people's views.
What would it take for you to reject your party's candidate for any office and look for someone else to vote for outside your party?
Say your party's candidate was:
Indicted with evidence by a grand jury for a major crime (sexual assault, homicide, grand larceny, extortion) This could be while holding an office or not.
Reverses position on a major party platform they previously endorsed (abortion,taxes, immigration) They explain they felt a duty-bound responsibility to adjust their viewpoint.
Leaked footage of them behaving significantly differently in the past than the current values they are campaigning for. They admit to the authenticity of the footage but say little else.
Accused with evidence of campaign finance violation or illegal surveillance of an opponent's campaign.
Evidence appears of the person while in office revealing secrets to an enemy nation or seeking to have an enemy nation exert it's influence to win a campaign in exchange for political favors from the person if they win.
Evidence appears of a sitting politician accepting a bribe in exchange for favorable treatment from a friend in the industry.
Above is just a few examples of political scandals, both recent and not-so-recent where the scandal actually happened during a race for an office. Sometimes candidates involved in these scandals actaully won despite the scandal, with some having to resign or be removed from the office after they won. I find it incredible that these candidates continued their candidacy knowing that they would resign or be removed if the situation were proven factual. I find it even more incredible that people voted for them, many because they were supporting their party.
Allegiance to a political party has a long and storied past. Whether it is tied to location, school, religion, family or other strong ties, there is immense pressure put on people to vote for the candidate for the party that they hold allegiance to, regardless of the values or beliefs of the candidates themselves. When we vote, we should be voting for candidates, not a party and if there is a candidate that most closely adheres to our values then we should support them with our vote. Funding the candidate you believe in is a matter of personal choice, but if you feel inspired to contribute to a candidate, then please do so. I don't support tax deductions for contributing to a particular candidate, but only for contributions made to a general election fund distributed among all qualified candidates. Parents especially should encourage their children to learn about candidates and ask questions before voting, rather than forcing a particular party on their children, expecting them to support candidates that may not have their true values at heart.
A paper published in 2017 by Katherine Gehl and Michael Porter detailed a phenomenon that I believe is really happening where the republican and democrat parties are merely brands in an industry, competing for market share like Coke and Pepsi. And while they certainly compete against each other, they also cooperate on certain aspects of the system to control the rules of the game and to reduce and eliminate and and all competition in what essentially amounts to a duopoly. One of the talking points is that both parties constantly say "Washington is broken", when in fact it is working exactly the way they want such as preventing candidates not affiliated with one of the major parties from appearing on certain ballots and participating in debates. Also, by keeping two parties they claim that any vote for another party is just going to steal an election. It also promotes extremism, where the more polarizing a candidate is the more support they get from their own party by distancing their base from anyone who would've initially gone with a more moderate candidate. While party positions on both sides have tended to get more extreme, most Americans positions on key issues have remained quite moderate.That means that we've been forced to choose extremist candidates that don't truly hold the values most Americans support. Why competition in the politics industry is failing America.
In this polarizing world where it's always us vs them on every issue, the winner has been twofold, the parties themselves and the media, the losers have been moderate candidates that hold real values and the American public. Every cable news channel serves an audience that supports their view and feeds their audience media designed to incite even more anger against the others and further polarize and encourage even more extremism. It has also made our representatives even less effective. One of the statistics noted in the report is the vast decline in bipartisan support for legislation in various state and federal legislative bodies throughout the country. Less bipartisan support for legislation means the public loses confidence in the lawmakers' ability to be effective, but the two party system has been engineered to only allow two options, so if you begin to hate one, you just embrace the other, someone who is just another side to the same corrupt coin. The paper linked provides some potential solutions which I think are excellent, but resolving those issues without addressing the underlying causes will only address part of the problem.
Underneath the systemic issues in our political world is rampant, forced polarization of views. Media, social and traditional uses recommendation engines to favor content that is sensational, even if it's not fact-based to encourage users to view, like and recommend it to others, further polarizing people's views. Rather than requiring viewers to see context, facts and opposing views, it is designed to generate more views which means more revenue. On social media, we can remove posts or pages that disagree with our views so we have a single pane of glass into people who only reinforce existing viewpoints and never explain contrasting viewpoints and give us ways to see multiple viewpoints. Some companies have begun to remove obviously harmful, hateful, or clearly fake content, which is a good step, but nothing they do will force users to open their eyes and encourage them to invite alternate views into their lives. So how do we solve this? I believe that consuming party-neutral media and encouraging constructive political discourse are key additions to the plan laid out to reduce partisanship in America. It will take personal commitment and change at high levels of the government and society, but it starts by consumers of media to seek out more neutral media that shows a full view of an issue, not just the view their special interests want. It is equally important to exercise self-control when discussing political topics, to not just parrot party talking points and to truly educate oneself on a whole issue.
Please note that this isn't an attack on a particular party or any candidate, current or former. What I take issue with is that the system is rigged against average humans who tend to be moderate unless consistently exposed to radical ideas. I don't think that Trump has helped with the polarization, but I do feel he has certainly brought this issue to the front of everyone's minds. The unfortunate thing is I don't know if shining a light on this issue helps or makes it worse. I do think now is the time to address it, address it with our votes, address it with our voices, address it with our media choices, address it with the next generation.
Let's all choose candidates that hold values that best represent our values, regardless of our party or theirs.
Learn who is on your ticket and learn what you can about the candidates from unbiased sources. If it's a vote for a potential incumbent, look at their voting record and make an informed choice not just basd on commercials designed to mislead.
ballotready.org is a great resource to learn about your ballot or seek out your county registrar's office.
Most importantly -- make your voice heard in any way that you can, the only way we lose is if we don't vote.