Political
parties and political ideology are discussed in chapter twelve of my political science class
textbook, Keeping the Republic. While the two political powers have been in place for a long time now,
they seem infantile in the way they interact with each other either through the
leaders of Congress or different news organizations representing their
affiliations in the news. Put those two together and it seems that every minute
of news coverage about the government is either about Obama being the
Antichrist or the Senate being a group of baboons in suits. All this makes it
difficult to make an informed stance on any subject. In any case, the two
parties represent a system without cooperation that is blood thirsty to bring
each other down. The two United States’ political ideologies and parties do
more fighting than creating a better nation.
A
class handout entitled, Deciphering Your Political Ideology on Two Dimensions,
(with no other reference) uses statements to emphasize the themes of each
ideology, conservative and liberal. Through this, it is apparent that
conservatives’ economic views are for less government and social order views
are based on historical, usually Christian views. On the other hand,
liberals have economic views of more government regulation and social order
views of equality. The differing economic views are
completely rational. They make absolute sense as to why there is a need for two
parties to argue about less or more government. The social order side; however, makes
little sense. It would seem that since the conservative view point in economics
is for less government regulations would flow through to their ideals on social
order. When it comes to marriage, less government regulation. When it comes to religious
entitlements, less government regulations. The statement, the government should
not have a say on who cannot get married and what schools cannot teach, seems
like it should be a conservative view. It seems the only way to differentiate
between the two parties is that they oppose every thing about the other.
Instead
conservatives and liberals argue about each social order issue. When it comes
to political parties, democrats tend to be more liberal and republicans tend to
take the conservative stance on subjects. Sadly however, taking a stance
usually means they oppose the other party’s view on the subject. The textbook
states that instead of having courses of action about how to reform the current
situation, candidates for office simply need a political party to back them up.
Without being informed, citizens see the brand of each candidate and pick the
one that matches their own (KTR, 355). It continues to state that instead of
looking to paint a picture of a better future, candidates tend to remind
citizens of the awful past while the current opposing party was in office (KTR,
356). This is done through media and speeches by the candidates. There is a
lack of intellectual debate and an abundance of blame in the current system.
All
this bickering shown on the TV leaves the average voter unaware of the
candidate’s ability to handle whatever office they are running for. The
textbook gives the example of the 2012 election. While Mitt Romney seemed much
more experienced and able to handle the country’s economic issues, people voted
for Obama because he gave the appearance of caring for the average person (KTR,
357). It is more important for citizens with strong political views to have
their party in power than to actually do what is best for the country. This
leaves our country with the appearance of inadequacy as almost nothing gets
done in congress.
Our
political system promotes inadequacy. It is more important to blame the other
than to fix a problem whether economic or social. The only real difference
between the two parties is that they hate each other. All this to say, it is
difficult to pick a side. For one right thing a party does, they do five wrong.
Work Cited
Barbour, Christine and Gerald Wright. 2012. Keeping the Republic: Power and Citizenship
in American Politics. THE ESSENTIALS 5th ed. Washington D.C.:CQ
Press.
(KTR)
Deciphering Your Political Ideology on Two Dimensions (class
handout with no reference as to where it came from)
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