Why has the United States become so Divided?
A look into why Americans think the United States has become so polarized today.
For 242 years now the United States has been a symbol of democracy around the world; with a peaceful transfer of power and strong political identity. This past election cycle has shown that the United states can be very divisive in terms of political affiliations and social ideologies. Ideological polarization and the amount of liberals with conservative views and vice versa are changing. According to Pew Research, In 2015, 53% of Republicans had political values that were mostly or consistently conservative, up from 31% in 2004 while 60% of Democrats had values that were largely or consistently liberal, contrasted to 49% in 2004.
Some Americans feel that the divide has always been present in the United States but has gotten worse in the last 10 years. Hanna Baldridge is a Mary Kay sales director who feels this is true.
“Every year it seems to get more divided — between the football players taking a knee, or young black men being killed by police officers — I definitely think the U.S. is more divided.”
It seems the social landscape of the United States has been turned on its head leading up to the 2016 election. According to the FBI, since 2015 the number of hate crimes has increased; especially against those of another race or ethnicity. In 2015, 6 in 10 of hate crimes that occurred were related to race or ethnicity. What could be causing these divides both politically and socially?
Alex Prieto-Rivero, A student at the University of Houston thinks that the divide is driven by people not seeing anything done in congress.
“People are not seeing what they want changed, people are looking for specific things out of politicians and congress that they’re not seeing anymore — “When you are a politician in congress sometimes you have to cut away some of those legislations that might be beneficial to some people simply for the benefit of the country” Prieto-Rivero said.
Congress echoes this divide with According to a recent Gallup poll Americans trust and faith in congress is at an all time low. In 2018 just 11 percent of Americans have a great deal of faith in congress when compared to 42 percent in 1973. Another government shut down may be on the horizon as a democratic majority congress has been elected this past midterm.
Some people feel that the divide is due to how people are raised in the United States today. John Lee works full time as a new car sales manager and feels that the reason why the nation is so divided is because they were never taught respect.
“I went to a Catholic school as a kid — if you misbehaved you got spanked. You went to the principals office and they put a paddle to you — and it taught you respect and nowadays I think that in schools and at home parents don’t discipline enough”.
The division seems to stem from a multitude of reasons. Such as the recent election cycle and its controversy, hate crime violence and disappointment in our politicians. For us to overcome these divisions we must see the other side and listen not scream. The United States has faced this kind of division before wether it be during the Vietnam war or even the Civil war. This country has been through harder times and has persevered. No matter how loud we scream at each other we will always be Americans and no matter how divided we are we are still one country. It just takes understanding and respect to see our differences and to avoid polarization.
