The concept of careful listening is a concept foregn to many American households. People are raised in a household with one viewpoint, believing that their view of politics is “correct” and the other view is “wrong”. The intake of one view, whether it’s from the media, or family, creates a polarized view on politics. In the article, Evan Mandery states the biggest threat to democracy is the polarizing politics caused by a lack of listening.
During the Thanksgiving holidays, there are always those viral videos of family arguments about politics, much of which we see and laugh at. However, these arguments highlight a deeper rooted issue in America: the lack of listening to and understanding the differing political parties. Families with clashing views are unable to understand the other’s view. During my Thanksgiving, my family does not have political debates. In the past, Thanksgiving has been spent with family friends, many of whom have democratic political beliefs. This year, I spent Thanksgiving with family in California, and similarly, there is an overdominant liberal belief.
However, when it is just my family eating dinner, whether that is at Relish, Prairie Canary, or in Des Moines, we often have little political debates. Because my Mother was raised in single viewpoint household, she has strong liberal beliefs, and doesn’t particularly listen to any other view. My father, however, was raised in a republican household, but moved to California, where he was exposed to more liberal beliefs. Because of this exposure, he understands both viewpoints, but still has a strong sense of fiscally republican views.
With the exposure to more divisive and polarizing decisions by the state and national government, debates are often started over the dinner table between my mother’s liberal views, my father’s conservative views, and my liberal views. The main topic of our debates tends to be about the general state of our government. Where my mother believes the Electoral College and Senate is “f-d up,” my father believes it provides influence from the often overlooked ranchers in Montana. Having these debates, where my mother doesn’t listen to my father, and my father doesn’t listen to my mother, has shown me the importance of listening and understanding. Seeing each side of many debates, from gun control to the economy, I have a deep understanding of the parties’ views in our politics.
Every person has to fill out a bubble when registering to vote, identifying a political party. Parties narrow the opportunity of people to truly have the choice of a commander in chief. For example, a Republican in Iowa may want to register as such, but caucus for Pete Buttigieg. However, this cannot be done because filling out those little bubbles defines who you must caucus for. In my opinion, we should not have any parties at all. George Washington once said, “However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.” Washington was also against parties, he believed political parties would divide the government and unjustly rule it.
Those privileged actually tend to worsen the political polarization. The privilege of knowledge tends to make people believe they are correct. Being privileged, it is our duty to understand people’s opinions. To do this, each person must use resources beyond what they might usually use to access political information, it may just be reading a Fox News article instead of CNN or vise versa. Being knowledgeable about politics, is the duty of every voting citizen. Not just knowledgeable about one party, but about all parties. Using the privilege of education to make the United States a more understanding and accepting place.
Privilege in Politics 