Let me start this off by saying I am not super involved in politics, or super informed for that matter. But what I do see going on in our country today is a growing divide between Republicans and Democrats and people with allegiance to either of those parties. Our two-party system is hurting our nation and we need to fix it.

Even media companies associated with these parties (CNN with Democrats and Fox with Republicans) are contributing to this divide. These media companies and other news outlets have started twisting stories to promote their own agendas and goals rather than reporting honestly and without bias. And these unethical actions happen on both sides and the blame does not fall only with one.

A lot of people have stopped caring about the issues that trouble our nation and are more concerned with attacking people of other political parties instead of solving our problems. Democrats have lately taken up the task of slandering Trump and trying to expose his administration for criminal activities and Republicans have focused on slandering Alexandria-Ocasio Cortez. While there needs to be some activity between the parties, overall, political parties need to have the goal of solving problems and not attacking the other. This is distracting us from the hard-working politicians out there that are doing honest work and trying to help our nation.

And this is why I propose banning political parties for a short period of time. This is a radical proposal, but I believe if politicians are forced to identify as independent then Americans will focus more on the policies and platforms of these politicians and begin to make an informed vote rather than simply voting for a candidate because of their party allegiance. Voting will require actual research rather than looking at the political party above a candidate's name. There are some good voters out there that do their research regardless, but they are in a small minority.

I understand the importance of political parties in our nation, but I feel that getting rid of political parties for a bit will shift the focus away from political parties and more towards political issues. For example, if two main candidates are selected for an election, people will have to get informed on the specific views of each politician in order to properly vote. While this may deter many from voting, the voting population will be more focused and informed on the issues that plague our nation currently.