Polarization In The United States

The greatest threat to America at this time is the polarization that currently exists between our nation’s two political parties, the Republicans and Democrats. Polarization is when two significant groups contrast sharply on major issues, often times refusing to compromise on these issues as well as creating feelings of distrust toward the other party. This is a serious problem in the United States because basically the entire Congress is either Democrat or Republican and when they refuse to compromise, the U.S. government can’t get anything done on major issues; ultimately causing the American people to suffer. Polarization in the U.S. has been around for a long time, but it has recently worsened over the years; especially with the end of

the Cold War which caused the U.S. government to have to focus on controversial domestic issues instead of a common foreign enemy. Some of these key issues that the two parties disagree on the most would be global warming, recent liberal rights that have been gained, health care, gun laws, and finally the national debt. Regarding these topics, Republicans typically take the traditional and conservative side while Democrats take the progressive and liberal side. As mentioned earlier, this sharp divide often prevents the U.S. government from taking action at all on these topics because no party is willing to compromise with the other one.