In the words of Karl Marx, “History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.”
First of all, that guy was a lunatic; they call him the “father of communism” for a reason.
However, repeating history does not have to be the case! A society without knowledge about their history is like a tree without its roots, yin without yang, peanut without the butter! Learning history can help us learn from the mistakes of people that came before us so that we won't make the same mistakes as they did.
How come when it comes to politics we still can’t learn from history? I say this because I believe that the most significant challenge that society faces today is the great political divide between Republicans and Democrats, Conservatives versus Liberals. We see it every day in the news. Both sides have blame. Donald Trump tries to do everything in his power to undo the Obama administration‘s policies, whether or not they were good or bad; or the Democrats constantly trying to impeach Donald Trump instead of trying to compromise and put people before politics.
This issue isn’t new; it’s not one that popped up overnight. The political divide has been around even before America declared independence from Britain in 1776. Some can argue the divide began with loyalist versus Patriots. This divide pitted neighbors against each other, sometimes even selling each other out to the “other side.” People were tarred and feathered for having different views, while some were even jailed. Then after the American Revolution, the divide shifted to Federalist versus Anti-Federalist. Then Whigs versus Jacksonian Democrats. Then eventually modern day Republicans versus Democrats. Over the 242 years since our nation’s founding, political turmoil has brought our country to war, both domestically and abroad. Millions have lost their morals, dignity and even their lives to political motives.
Through these tragedies, how come we still have not fixed this? The sad thing is, we are more divided now than at any point in the last two decades. We see it in politics and everyday life. A 2014 survey by the ‘Pew Research Center’ finds that the division is the greatest amongst people who are active in the political process. 92% of Republicans are to the right of the median Democrat, and 94% of Democrats are to the left of the median Republican. These results promote the stigma that you have to be 100% Republican or 100% Democrat, and never anything in between.
However, this is far from the truth! The reality is that most people tend to have centered viewpoints, agreeing with both parties on certain issues. The mainstream media puts both parties against each other, sensationalizing the divide, therefore creating an actual divide that destroys our country from the inside out.
The partisan gap is widening over how much the government should do to help those in need. As before seen during the Great Depression, when the government wanted to help the many Americans recover from the financial problems. A partisan gap is emerging over whether the United States should be active in world affairs. As seen before in the United States on multiple occasions, extending way back to 1789, when the US was debating on whether or not they should have helped the French with their revolution. There’s a wider gap on Trump’s job approval rating than for any other president in six decades, as well as, more recently, the gun control debate following the horrific shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida a little over a month ago. The way we are currently having these very pressing issues is slowly tearing our country into factions, which will eventually lead to our demise
Our society must learn how to come together in order to reach a consensus instead of constantly trying to rip each other to shreds, evading compromise; Country before politics. “Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” Learning about why and how we failed is the key to success. Learning our history allows us to learn about the past, which helps us to understand the present. We see, we learn, we go, we conquer. History gives us the tools necessary to build a bridge to the future.
So let’s not continue down the path we are headed! We can make a tremendous impact on the world and bring meaningful change, such as changes on environmental sustainability, bullying, job shortages, education, gun policies, and many other worthy causes that can change the future for the better. However, those changes can only happen if we stop trying to rip people with opposing views to shreds, evading compromise, and start to come together and reach a consensus. Let’s learn from our past! It’s time to put people before politics.
