Introduction
In politics, polarization refers to the divergence of political attitudes to ideological extremes. Political polarization has become a defining feature in current American politics, both among the public and elected officials. In the current polarized environment, political parties, as well as public opinion, differ on a wide range of political issues, such as governance, race, immigration, national security, and environmental protection. This widening gap in political opinion marks a new chapter in an increasingly polarized environment. Gradually since the 1970s, the American party system has become more polarized.
Compared to some decades ago, the party system has now become much more ideologically sorted, and there is more animosity between parties. There are numerous causes to blame for this increase, including newly diversified media environment and democratic inducements for polarized political rhetoric from candidates. According to a new report from the Pew Research Center (2017), America’s political divide has intensified during President Trump’s first year of administration.
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Effects of Current Polarized Environment on the Actions of Party Leaders
The current polarized environment significantly affects the actions of party leaders. It stimulates party leaders to use political rhetoric to exploit the real grievances of voters. These leaders pick out issues that are divisive to highlight so as to pursue their political agenda. This is to say that, what these party leaders say is as important as what they do. For instance, President Trump has criticized alleged external opponents like terrorist Muslims and “rapists” Mexican immigrants since launching his campaign (Benkler, Faris, and Roberts, 2018). Currently, the party leader of the Republic Party is targeting internal enemies. Lately, he has blamed the Democrats of unleashing an “angry mob” unfit to govern and labeled the media “the enemy of the people.” Such unexpected attacks by the US president appeared intended to discredit his critics as well as delegitimize his political rivals. These unprecedented attacks have intensified the political divide in the United States. This is because it has reinforced the view that politics is “us versus them” contest.
Party leaders generate political division and the political polarization of voters. The current polarized environment affects the actions of party leaders in the sense that party leaders make efforts to differentiate themselves as clearly as possible from their opponents in order to succeed in terms of political mobilization. To achieve this, the party leaders ensure that they not only follow but also shape citizen’s preferences.
Effects of Current Polarized Environment on Member’s Behaviour
In recent years, the increase in the state’s partisan divide has increased the hostility between members of the Republicans and Democrats. This is because members from each side view the other “out-group” party with increasing enmity, bias, and distrust. Due to the growth of the perception that “if you win, I lose,” enmity and violence between the members from either side increase as they view the other political party and their supporters as a threat to the country as well as their life if the other side wins and hold power. For that reason, the members of the party in power tolerate more illiberal and increasingly authoritarian behavior in order to stay in power. On the other hand, the rivals will be increasingly eager to resort to undemocratic ways to eliminate them from power. This damages democracy.
Today, U.S citizens have a difficult time addressing members from a differing political affiliation on issues facing the nation. The current political rhetoric is polarized given that Americans only communicate politically if that communication is polarized. Today, American’s are seemingly incapable of productive discourse. President Trump’s violent rhetoric is leading to violence. There are numerous violent acts perpetrated by the current polarized environment.
To mention a few, a pipe bomb discovered in the mailbox of philanthropist George Soro’s New York suburban home (Rashbaum, 2018); explosive devices addressed to former President Barrack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; and suspicious packages sent to former FBI director John Brennan and Rep. Maxine Waters (Darby, 2018). This increase in political violence indicates that polarization the United States is beginning to reach a tipping point. Violence is becoming a more plausible reaction than discourse given that U.S citizens are becoming so intolerant of other people’s ideas as well as the individual’s holding those ideas. However, Americans are not to blame. The blame should, however, be placed on political leaders that use polarizing techniques for political gain while spurning their citizens on the path of violence.
Effects of Current Polarized Environment on the Legislative Process
The United States has experienced political polarization since 2010, with the Democrats holding the White House, and The Republican Party controlling the House of Representatives and the Senate. The current polarized environment affects the legislative process as it dramatically increases the time it takes to enact a policy or legislation (Hughes and Carlson, 2015). These legislative delays are even greater when the level of polarization is higher. Although the current polarized environment imposes significant legislative hurdles, at the end many bills are passed into law. However, before the bills are passed, they take a very long time through the legislative process. This undercuts the ability of the government to solve significant policy problems quickly.
Polarized political environment undermines the legislative process because it requires a compromise between two parties. This not only affects the time it takes to pass a bill but also the number of significant bills passed over time. For public laws to be created, the democrats and republicans ought to reach some modicum agreement. With no doubt, there is little common ground between the Democrats and the Republicans in the current political context. Any barriers to legislative compromise are intensified as a result of the enormous ideological division between the parties. This, in turn, affects the number of significant bills passed over time.
Figure 1: Effects of Party Polarization on the Survival Time of Important Legislation. Source: Hughes and Carlson.
For instance, the new Democratic governor, Terry McAuliffe, proposed in 2014 the state expand the Medicaid program in line with the Affordable Care Act (Gabriel, 2014). As part of the proposal, the federal government was required to pay for the extension. In the state Senate, some Republicans we were ready to cooperate with the Democrats and support the idea, but The House was divided on the issue. Due to concerns about an ancillary issue regarding the representative's capacity to select state judges when the law-making body is not in session, the Republican authority of the House chose to remain in session as long as could be allowed. The drive for this was to stall on the budget as well as the proposal to expand the Medicaid program. As a result, time went on, and the position of the Republican House against the proposal became more hardened. Eventually, in September, four months after the constitutionally set adjournment date, a budget that did not include the expansion of the Medicaid program was adopted (Gabriel, 2014). Though late, it was a settlement of sorts.
Conclusion
The current polarized environment has numerous effects on the actions of political leaders, member’s behaviors, and the legislation process. It affects the actions of political leaders as it stimulates them to use political rhetoric to exploit the real grievances of voters. Additionally, party leaders make efforts to differentiate themselves as clearly as possible from their opponents in order to succeed in terms of political mobilization. The Current polarized environment has led to an increase in hostility between members of the Republicans and Democrats. Thus, the members of the party in power tolerate more illiberal and increasingly authoritarian behavior in order to stay in power while the rivals resort to undemocratic ways to eliminate them from power. It also affects the legislation process since dramatically increases the time it takes to enact a policy or legislation as well as the number of significant bills passed over time.
The U.S has to put measures in place to overcome the dynamics of polarization. Both political parties, leaders, and citizens ought to play a part to avoid the increased polarized environment and distrust that seems to pervade American society. Simply withdrawing from politics is not effective. U.S citizens ought to be aware of the political and psychological mechanisms of polarization as well as the first warning signs of democratic erosion in order to protect themselves and their democracy. The citizens can achieve this by ensuring that they refuse to participate in the trap of demonizing politics while ensuring that they massively vote against political leaders who use polarizing methods. The ultimate solution is to address these debates head-on to depolarize the contentiousness around citizenship rights and national identity that divides the United States.
References
Benkler, Y., Faris, R., and Roberts, H. (2018). Immigration and Islamophobia: Breitbart and the Trump Party. [Online]. Available at: http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/oso/9780190923624.001.0001/oso-9780190923624-chapter-4 . Accessed 15th April 2019.
Darby, L. (2018). Democrats Are Being Sent Bombs, and Chuck Schumer’s Top Priority Is Still Appeasing Republicans. [Online]. Available at: https://www.gq.com/story/democrats-bombs-chuck-schumer . Accessed 15 th April 2019.
Hughes, T., and Carlson, D. (2015). How Party Polarization Makes the Legislative Process Even Slower when Government is divided. [Online]. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/277582121_Divided_Government_and_Delay_in_the_Legislative_Process_Evidence_From_Important_Bills_1949-2010 . Accessed 15 th April 2019.
Rashbaum, W. (2018). At George Soro’s Home, Pipe Bomb Was Likely Hand-Delivered, Officials Say. [Online]. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/23/nyregion/soros-caravan-explosive-bomb-home.html?action=click&module=RelatedCoverage&pgtype=Article®ion=Footer . Accessed 15 th April 2019.
Pew Research Center. (2017). The Partisan Divide on Values Grows Even Wider. [Online]. Available at: https://www.people-press.org/2017/10/05/the-partisan-divide-on-political-values-grows-even-wider/ . Accessed 15th April 2019.
