Hyper-Partisanship: Western society’s new menace
“The only real radicalism in our time will come as it always has — from people who insist on thinking for themselves and who reject party-mindedness.” — Christopher Hitchens from “Christopher Hitchens and His Critics: Terror, Iraq, and the Left”
Every society faces challenges. Some are unique to them, while others are common to other societies. One major problem common to most western societies today is Hyper-Partisanship. It is for me, western society’s new menace.
Most westerners are as divided over politics today as they probably were in the lead up to any major civil unrest in their history. Hardly a day passes without political tensions threatening to escalate into violence, as each side accuses the other of betraying the core values of their society.
The increased allegiance to a political party threatens the democratic norms of western society. In many cases it leads to a bias assessment of government officials. As is the case with most present day partisans, elected government officials are evaluated not by their track record and current performance, but by the party they belong to. This leads to an increased number of incompetent elected officials, as many are not held accountable by the members of the party they belong to.
The advent of hyper-partisanship
Parties were initially designed to help solve a common voter problem, which was having to identify (during every election) the candidate that is closest to the voter’s personal policy preferences. Candidates also need funding, and parties help to provide a platform for that.
At the early stages of the party system, voters critically assessed each party in the build up to most elections. Losing parties regularly reviewed their policies to react to election losses. This gave them the sort of ideological malleability not seen in modern day political parties.
Today, political parties are less open to new ideologies. This has led to an increased lack of tolerance for opposition parties. It has also led to a surge in closed-minded and over-aggressive party members. As seen like never before, there seems to be a reluctance (by members of a political party) to not only work with party outsiders (be it centrists or opposition party members), but also to coexist with them.
Political parties have become institutions that reinforce stereotypes. This dysfunction has led to a reduced fluidity among voters. Nowadays many people support their current party solely out of disdain for the opposition. Political party leaders have also tapped into this by spending more time reinforcing these stereotypes as opposed to promoting attractive policies and ideas.
Nowadays party members see the other side as not only opponents, but dangerous enemies that need to be suppressed. When party members begin to see outsiders as misguided to the point of posing a danger to society, it reduces the possibility of parties engaging in healthy competition for votes. One of the notable signs of hyper-partisanship in modern day politics is the use of identity politics in most campaigns and office tenures.
The growing trend of Identity Politics
Party allegiances are fracturing relationships at every level by dividing society into ideological, racial/tribal, religious, and geographic groups . As seen of recent in America, every election isn’t just about pitting parties against each other, but rather identity groups. This makes losing elections all the more damning. Losing an election ends up giving the impression that every identity group you belong to also lost a standing in society.
It also breeds the impulsive need for your party to win. Caring only about your party winning makes government accountability less of a priority. Politicians tend to exploit this when campaigning, and subsequently when governing. They do this by reminding you of the dangers of allowing the other side to come to power.
The usual narrative in the political sphere is that different parties always have conflicting interests. This makes every election a battle for survival. This narrative is also reinforced in identity politics. Different identities (e.g. different races) are painted as opposites. Thus when one party identifies with a particular identity group, they send out the subtle message of being incapable of working with the other party which identifies with another identity group.
For example, whites and minorities in America are painted as polar opposites. As such, they can neither coexist nor have the same societal demands. This completely eliminates any form of cooperation needed to run a peaceful society. In most cases, the losing side spends more time tackling the elected side as opposed to working together for the common good.
Partisan media as a political echo chamber
Mainstream media has been a key tool in driving political division. Social media and mainstream news stations have been instrumental in amplifying extreme voices in the political sphere. Mainstream media has always been used in campaigning and other political endeavors (e.g. policy reviews), but the misguided use of the media by partisans is something that has become an increasing trend over the years.
From disinformation to stereotype reinforcement, it has all been on the rise. Hardly a day goes by without dangerous loudmouths, bots, trolls etc. all flooding social media platforms with divisive and far-fetched far posts. Mainstream news stations seem to have one political affiliation or the other.
According to Statista, approximately 3.96 billion people use social media. The average time spent on those platforms is around 2.2 hours. Major TV news outlets average thousands of viewers per month, with Fox and CNN peaking millions at times. From these statistics we can see the amount of influence that mainstream media has.
The result of this influence has been negative. A new pew survey shows that 73% of Americans believe that democrats and republicans cannot agree on basic facts. There is a blizzard of lies one has to navigate whenever they expose themselves to partisan media, and for many they get lost in it.
“A good way to create an extremist group, or a cult of any kind, is to separate members from the rest of society. The separation can occur physically or psychologically, by creating a sense of suspicion about non-members. With such separation, the information and views of those outside the group can be discredited, and hence nothing will disturb the process of polarization as group members continue to talk.” — Cass Sunstein from “Going to Extremes”
The animosity created by partisan media has also led to the formation of many extremist groups. By advancing an ideological agenda long enough, partisan media has created a cult-like following for political parties. These cult-like followers have lost all ability to reason together with their fellow members of society and have resorted to the sharpening of knives.
Confronting Hyper-Partisanship
Confronting this menace is going to be a very challenging task for many western societies. For starters, society must reassert the fact that everyone is entitled to their own opinion. This means that our feelings should be put aside in matters of opinion.
The law should always take center stage. So long as an ideology is in the bounds of legality, then there should be tolerance for such ideologies. There should also be a fair and unbiased application of the law when dealing with extremists and other political agitators.
We all need to learn to walk a mile in the other person’s shoes before we judge them or dismiss their views. Approaching political debates with an open mind is one of the ways we can all bridge the gap caused by hyper-partisanship. Ridicule and accusations need to be kept out of political debates, as well as taking a moral high ground.
Also, society needs to bring back the old wisdom of sticking to the purpose of assignment/gathering. Politics should be kept out of the work place. It should also be kept out of social gatherings and out of schools. Non-political TV shows and other entertainment forms should also be free from political narratives. While we introduce tolerance for different opinions and ideologies, we should also limit the enthusiasm with which we peddle our ideologies. We need to keep public spaces neutral.
In terms of the party system itself, western societies need to move past the practice of having 2 major political parties. We usually have more than 2 branches of government in other to balance things out, so we should definitely have more than 2 major political parties. having more options is never a bad thing, and it will help keep things in check in terms of party rivalries.
I believe any society that can attain major technological and economic advancement can most definitely attain sociocultural advancement. Hyper-Partisanship deters such an advancement, and should be dealt with in haste. All hands must be on deck to tackle this menace.
