At some point between, I’m gonna say 2016 and the present day, you’ve most likely butt-heads with an individual whose opinions you disagree with, or in your opinion whose political ideology was morally wrong. Trust me, this happened to me almost daily, who figured juniors in high school knew so much about running a country?! Though many of these conversations and quarrels can be lively and spirited, they’ve become quite toxic as well –– creating an atmosphere of divisiveness and deceit within our country. If the 2020 presidential race, in all its exhaustion and ridicul, was any indicator, it’s that this country is more divided than ever, and the polarization that exists between the two parties is so stark, that even expected bipartisanship is a relief. This brings me to my main concern: how can a country so divided possibly find time to heal itself after a nasty, tiring, and even tedious election year? And how can our country begin to see one another as people, instead of red and blue?

The answer (perhaps not surprisingly) is complex. This problem of polarization has been slowly emerging for years, and at first, started as merely petty mockery; morphed into dangerous lying, which spearheaded fear mongering, ultimately leading to a universal call for action against an “enemy,” whose agenda has been warped and manipulated to fit a target audience. And it’s at this point, that we begin at our beloved - Fox News. I remember distinctly, a specific story that aired on “Hanity” hosted by none-other than Sean himself, and in it, he attacked then-President Barack Obama, perhaps with almost humorously stupid vigor, that President Obama had ordered a burger with Dijon Mustard. And though these attacks seemed harmless, they can be labeled as the first attempts by such organizations like Fox News to create an aura of dissatisfaction with the former leader. These attacks weren’t meant to turn the public against the president, it was merely to make him seem “out-of-touch” with the common American, to make those few already skeptical of the policies he had put forth to say, “Huh… that is really weird.” But the tension is heightened when a tragedy such as the attacks on September 11th, 2012 in Benghazi happen, and lies blaming the Administration about those who died at our embassy, a failure to send rescue planes, the lie that our government told American reinforcements to “stand down” begin clouding people’s news feed. When a major news organization makes baseless claims that our government deliberately ignored a volent international affair that ended in the death of five Americans, then a part of America believes that, and gradually, the trust in our national agencies, particularly the administration’s, begins to erode. When a handful of news organizations can single-handedly influence the hearts and minds of half the country with lies and false-hoods in order to establish strong opposition to their political enemies, then it’s only a matter of time before a beast emerges from the pile of political bones.

After Barack Obama’s eight years, a tumultuous, harmful, and toxic 2016 presidential race concluded, and Donald Trump was sworn into office on January 20th, 2017. I believe it was this disgraceful election that truly divided the country into a formidable red vs blue mentality. It begins with Trump’s new tactics and name-calling, exhilarating rallies, and shameless rhetoric that awoke a silent majority of white men and women who voted for him in record numbers, hoping to cast themselves away from the policies of the Obama Administration that they believed to be so shameful. However, it was even more problematic when Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton called all Trump supporters “deplorable.” Not only was this remark distasteful, hurtful, and deeply antagonizing, it immediately showed those skeptical of Clinton that the constituents she would lead as president would be the ones who supported her, not the ones who didn’t. Remarks like these, pierce the very fabric of our democratic systems, showing blatant partisanship in a time when the country is divided enough will of course further degrade the trust of the citizenry. Our politicians must begin to show Americans that, politics aside, the people come first over their paychecks. We need to weld trust back into our political system, gut the corrupted money and special interests influencing the wording of bills and legislation, and once and for-all listen to the people’s needs, wants, and concerns. Only then can we begin to rebuild the trust of red towards blue and blue towards red, ultimately creating our desired purple.

And here we are… at the end of yet another blundered election year, but this time, the other party has defeated the incumbent in the executive branch, and another majority of Americans are dissatisfied with the results of the election. We must create a better system of trust that truly works for our citizens. We the people must demand better representation, honesty in our nation’s politics, and the end of the harmful usage of baseless rhetoric that feeds a raging fire in the hearts of disenfranchised Americans. However, none of us can achieve this if we don’t once again recognize each other as people, rather than our political ideology. Because let’s be clear: whether you watch OAN or CNN, or anything in-between, we all deserve trust and honesty in each other again.

Photo credits: The 2020 Presidential Debate (IG: @clay.banks)