The country is very divided at this point. It wasn’t always that way. If the party you supported didn’t win the election, your friends would tease you about it just as they would if your favorite team had lost. You didn’t lose a friend because of the way you voted. How did it change? There doesn’t seem to be one thing that brought about the change, but a slow progression of many things. The first thing most experts quote as a cause for the polarization was AM talk radio. The person with the most prominent reputation was Rush Limbaugh. The other thing that changed was what’s going on in Washington, DC. Politicians would tend to stay in Washington for weekends in the past. That meant they would often socialize outside of the congressional halls. Friendships from the people of the other party were common. They say two things change that. Airline travel meant almost every legislator could fly home on the weekend. The other thing that happened was leaders in the House of Representatives made it clear they frowned on any friendship forming with a member of the opposing party. The Senate mostly escaped that problem.
Where once there had been a sense of comradeship, there was now only the enemy – the other party. You might think friendships would form anyway. The party leadership had other tools, such as running another person against you in the primary and denying your party’s help. It usually meant that you lost the election and your seat in Congress. No politician wants to lose their seat, so they were careful not to form friendships with members of the opposite party.
The last thing that happened was a “win at any cost” attitude. It prevented working across party lines. Where there had once been a feeling of doing what was best for the country, it became doing what was best for the party. Neither party has the complete answer to the country’s problems. One party essentially wants no change. While the other party is always seeking change to fix injustices they see. We have to change because things change around us, and we have to adjust to them. We can’t correct every injustice by writing a new law. When the two parties work together, they have crafted laws that were a mixture of ideas from the two parties. I don’t know about you, but I have found working with others, we found the best ideas because the solution was better with everyone contributing. It wasn’t one side dictating the answer.
You can’t fault Rush Limbaugh. He has said that he is just “creating entertainment.” However, we can criticize party leaders who won’t let friendships develop with the opposing party members. They forget their overarching goal should be what is best for the country and not what is best for the party!
