UNITED STATES—Politics, it just seems so many people refuse to have a conversation with people who are on the opposite end of the political scope. If you’re a Republican you can only align with Republican. If you’re a Democrat, Democrats can only align with their own; and for Independents they are expected to pick a side or labeled as riding the middle.

I just cannot fathom why we cannot be civil to one another. It seems as of late the divisiveness, the vitriol, the violence, the nastiness of politics have ramped themselves up in recent years. I just don’t recall this level of behavior in the 80s, 90s and early 00s. However, in the present day, whew, if your party loses the Governorship, the Senate, the House of Representatives, the Presidency, all hell breaks loose.

People are bitter, people are angry, people want their voices heard. Well, look what happened on January 6, 2021 for anyone who seems to be in the dark about what transpired in our country. Democracy has always been something that is important to this country, but nowadays everyone is concerned that democracy is dead or on the verge of dying people. If Republicans lose, the vote was stolen, if Democrats lose, the vote was stolen, how about we just accept you lost fair and square. People came out and voted and your party or affiliates did not.

This bitterness, the lies, the chaos that is spreading across this country is dangerous. Hell, I remember when people who ran for political office had some level of political experience. Today, nope, you don’t have to have any political experience. You don’t have to be educated or aware of the political arena. You just have to have powerful people backing you. Like, really? Why aren’t Americans asking the right questions about how you are qualified for the job? What are you going to do if elected into office, but more importantly HOW do you plan to do it?

All I see nowadays is fingers being pointed, but no one with a solution on the issue. It is like inflation, the Democrats, the Republicans, the Independents, NO ONE HAS AN ANSWER on how they are going to solve this problem. So I should vote for you people the current party in power has made things worse based on your assumptions, yet you have no solution on how you’re going to solve the problem either? Tell me how does that help me as a voter. I’ll give you the answer, it does NOT help me as a voter, it actually frustrates me more because I’m being feed a bunch of BS and that is the one thing you never want to do with voters who are undecided or on the fence about what they plan to do people.

Civility in politics is dead because everyone has to be right. No matter what you say or do, the opposing party HAS TO PROVE THEIR POINT and they are right no matter what you say or think. That is the problem because you have a perspective. A perspective DOES NOT MEAN ITS RIGHT! If only we can start to realize that and acknowledge that we can become better Americans. LISTEN, gosh that is what we need to do is LISTEN more to what others have to say. You have your perspective, I have my perspective and we can sometimes agree to disagree. You are not necessarily right, and I’m not necessarily right because you are not living in my truth and I’m not living in your truth. I don’t understand your circumstances and you do not understand my circumstances.

You can try to identify and think you have the answer, but you would have to be me to understand why I decided to vote the way I voted, just like I would have to be in your specific shoes and situation to understand why you voted the way you voted. This telling people how to vote aspect needs to stop and it needs to stop immediately! People should be allowed to vote based on what works best for them, not what someone THINKS works best because they see things a certain way. No two people are alike, which means no two voters are going to have the same perspective when they vote. For one, the economy might be a driving force for their vote, for another the right to choose when it comes to abortion might be at the top of the list, for others, its crime, for others it might be governmental policy, COVID-19, education or a host of things.

The thing is politicians need to appeal to the voter not by saying what they want to hear, but how they plan to solve problems that the voter is currently dealing with. Read that last statement again people because that is the thing that a ton of politicians are ignoring. Solving the problem, not just pointing a finger because we have to solve this approach to the animosity we have against those who are not aligned with our political views. It is NOT the end of the world, if a Republican and a Democrat are not aligned. That is politics people; it would be great if political parties didn’t even exist because this notion of having to choose makes the situation worse. Why do we have to be aligned with just this specific party and at all costs?

We are always trying to group things in this world and that is problem number one. How about we just be people, we respect the opinions of others and if they don’t align, oh, well they don’t align and it is not the end of the world. Get over your emotions because someone refuses to agree with your political perspective. You cannot attempt to dictate how people vote and that is the problem with our country. Everyone wants to force people to think or align one specific way. Politics is indeed dividing this country more now than ever before; we need to change that NOW, not later because the direction this country is heading is not only dangerous, but scary and that is something I didn’t think I would ever say.

Written By Peter Sanders