A political jungle is creating questionable imbalance this election season

Blue campaign signs for U.S. Democratic candidates Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Credit: Yahoo News

Blue campaign signs for U.S. Democratic candidates Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Credit: Yahoo News

As white, red and blue campaign signs with smiling faces and catchy slogans line the roads throughout the entire country, many Americans wonder what their future will hold.

As commercials appear through every channel on television, eligible voters and their children hear slanderous remarks about other candidates and their campaigns.

While presidential candidates have been discussing issues and promoting slandering, the American public has begun to create an enlarging gap between and within political parties and communities. This crack within the political structure of the U.S. can be rooted back to the purification of our political parties and recent changes within American ethnic, social and cultural demographics.

Once there was a time when both conservatives and liberals enjoyed membership within the Republican and Democratic parties.

Today, however, these parties have purified themselves and moved further apart from each other since the Reconstruction era.

Although the Democrats are more liberal than Republicans, both are moving away from the ideology of diversity within their borders.

Since the Republican party has been moving faster and further towards conservatism than the Democrats have moved towards liberalism, there is a bigger divide within the Republican party and its candidates.

Although many non-Americans would not view this as a pressing effect to the political gap within the U.S., 30 years ago, if you knew someone’s political party, you wouldn’t be able to say where they held liberal or conservative views.

Over the years, since the late 1980s and early 1990s, Americans, along with their politicians, have been polarizing their views and opinions on international and domestic issues. This has been a primary cause of the huge gap within political views today.

While the coefficient moves closer to one rather than zero, more individuals will find themselves in debates and creating tension between other Americans over issues such as abortion, immigration and the U.S. role within the world.

As polarization begins to affect the voting and party views within the American political system, the rise in immigration within the American public has largely caused racial and ethnic divisions within the U.S.

With any type of immigration change, the views, ideals and beliefs of a community or country will change.

Since the early 1990s, immigration has been steadily intensifying within the U.S. and has caused a diverse and dramatic change in racial and ethical decisions.

As these divides and immigration continues to increase, reaching agreements within the U.S. government and society will continue to decrease and become unobtainable.

If agreements within the Congress cannot be reached and individuals continue to further polarize from obtaining agreements and finding common ground, the U.S. will not find commonality and could breakdown.

As if this weren’t enough, the amount of millennials that hold interest in politics is increasing, but turned out has been distressingly low within past presidential elections.

As seen during the 2012 elections, only 19 percent of all voters, 18 to 29 (millennials), turned out to vote. This lack of enthusiasm during the past few years has left a huge imbalance within the views and political awareness of the U.S.

Now, millennial turnout is at its highest. Some individuals have estimated that millennials will be the biggest percentage of voters in the 2016 presidential elections. This shift in interest and political demographic is causing a polarization between the baby boomers and millennials, currently the two biggest generations.

Without a doubt, the U.S. is experiencing the beginning of a political stand-off and possibly the beginning of a completely polarized society.

The 2016 presidential elections is beginning and stimulating one of the most controversial political discussions within the U.S. The political jungle is continuously active and creating questionable differences and imbalances.

While many citizens wonder about who will become the next president, others are worried about the all-too-apparent and realistic possibility of a bleak future.

Cover credit: Sergio Algeri/GYV

Comment
BRITTANY TIMNEY, POLITICS & CONFLICTS, POLITICS, UNITED STATES

Brittany Timney

M.Sc. in Foreign Policy and National Security Major at American University, Washington D.C. Cum Laude Graduate in Political Science with minor in Criminal Justice at Fairleigh Dickinson University, Intern for the Department of State, Intern for the Ambassador of Afghanistan at the UN, NSCS Founding President (FDU chapter), Volunteer for UNICEF and American Legion for Veterans. "I love to write because it allows me to provide global information to my peers and gives me the opportunity to voice my own opinion."