It is no secret that the United States has been experiencing quite a bit of turmoil lately.
From terrorist attacks to domestic issues between police and the public; there has been a myriad of atrocities and tragedies plaguing the US. I will be the first to tell you how disheartening it is to see these terrible things happening. But this article is not to discuss those matters, for I am certain that thousands of people already have, or will, write about these events.
What I want to talk about is a little document called Federalist Paper No. 10.
For those of you who don't know what this is, it is a series of essays initialed by Alexander Hamilton, although he enlisted help from co-authors John Jay and James Madison who wrote under the pen name "Publius". Essay number ten was written by James Madison and it discusses, in depth, the issue of factions. In this essay Madison says that he was seeing a rift growing in American politics between the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists. While we now have Republicans and Democrats, it is the same principle, two parties with growing differences.
Madison felt that the Constitution needed to be agreed upon and signed because he fthought that it would unite the sides in one common union. While this did work, it was not successful in nullifying the rift between the two sides.
It is now that we see a growing issue with interpretation of the Constitution, which is exactly why we have the issue of our two parties not having the ability to get anything done in Congress or the Senate.
I realize this has been long winded, but bear with me here. What I have been meaning to say is, the party system in America has failed us, and we have been separated into factions which is exactly what James Madison warned about. When certain parties say they want to look out for certain interests of certain groups of people, we have a problem. As Madison says, a faction is a group united, "by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adverse to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community."
The funny thing is, both of our leading candidates have shown loyalties to some smaller group within the United States. Each candidate has a common interest and loyalty to some sort of faction. But do you want to know the real kicker? People will still vote for these two, most likely worst candidates in history, simply because they align with a certain party and will not vote otherwise.
It is a problem when nothing gets done in Congress due to the fact that they have party alliances and are forced to vote a certain way for fear of not being re-elected. Our political system is crumbling because we cannot do anything when our allegiances to another side are called upon.
Forget about all of the small internal issues in our country, let us look at the large and glooming issue at hand. Our people are split. We are in turmoil over gun control, freedom of religion, violence and terrorism. Do you think that it is truly possible to take on these very difficult issues when our country is split in two?
Our rich are blaming the poor. People have the audacity to blame our problems on poor people because they are "taking all of our money". Madison explicitly outlines the issue of our nation being divided between the rich and the poor. The society we live in has moved on from looking out for the good of the whole, and has moved on to looking out for the good of self. Now I completely understand that we as humans will, by nature, always look out for ourselves. But what a lot of people do not realize is that without government and a healthy country, your self preservation and well-being diminishes ten fold.
It is time that we unite ourselves as a country. I am by no means saying that I want one single party, because that is in no way a solution. Having competition between candidates will always better the government. But, what I am saying is that having only two valid parties, who always fight each other and tear each other apart, is not helping our nation whatsoever. And those of you who refuse to vote for a candidate simply because they are not labeled as "Republican" or "Democrat" are a direct cause of the problem we have in the US today.
I am saying that it is absolutely crucial for the success of our nation that we forget about where someone got their money and support for their candidacy, and focus more on what they are actually saying and how they can help out our nation in the future.
It will take many good presidents in a row for our nation to get back to the greatness that we once achieved. It is time for us to swallow our pride and admit that we have gone down the wrong path. The only way to recover and rebuild is to first admit that there is a problem. I assure you that there is a problem when two parties completely dominate an entire political arena. There is a problem when our people cannot discuss politics without wanting to kill each other. Our nation is tearing itself apart, and it is time to stop the bleeding.
Put your political loyalties aside. Look at your loved ones and ask yourself, "Is this candidate going to make the future of my family and friends better?"
If you can safely say that you believe that, pick whomever you choose and feel good about it. If you cannot safely say that, it is time to put your party allegiances aside, swallow your pride, and vote for a candidate that stands to better our nation.
