The party system is largely detrimental to our society.

There are many problems with the current party system in America today. One of the first and largest problems being, it makes Americans complacent. For a large part of Americans, there are only two options for their "political identity". But the political world is not so black and white as republican vs democrat. Yet, we have gotten comfortable with the system we are in, meaning every four years we get a new democrat or republican in office. I just find it impossible that we only need two parties to fully encapsulate the beliefs of every American. The divide discourages people from thinking or acting on what they actually believe in. The most research people do about any given political candidate is listen to what people they already agree with have to say about them. With only two parties in power, we will continue to get the same type of presidents because the system as it stands rewards unvirtuous people. Unvirtuous people get the most media coverage because controversy sells. All publicity is good publicity and eventually we get stuck with the two loudest people out of the bunch (as we learned during the 2016 election). But even if you want to vote for someone else who you truly believe will do a good job, it is not worth the while. With the two party system already being so prominent, it is almost impossible for any third-party to be able to squeeze in.

I remember around last election time, the surveys going around. Specifically the ones that asked whether you, as a republican or democrat, had any friends with conflicting beliefs. The number was surprisingly low. The two-party system causes isolation. This is very bad because it leads to the isolation of ideas. You get comfortable with the people who surround you and begin to imagine that everyone must think the same way. You are then even more outraged when you hear something that the other "side" does. It is just so strange to me that we think of it as a war between sides. The political party system is just a modern form of tribalism. There is a ridiculous amount of loyalty to one's own party. And why? Just because you have determined that it is part of your identity? Parties are fallible. This political tribalism leads to tribal warfare. Slinging around names, putting people into boxes, mass generalizations, propaganda, etc. But the parties even have their own "warriors" online. It not uncommon to see these political debates scattered around the internet. Political debates are not bad, in fact, I wholly endorse them. The problem I find is that the ideas aren't unique, they are just the same messages that you find spewed by the media. It is getting increasingly difficult to find unique, individual thought because of the complacency encouraged by the party system.

The party system also encourages more bias in the news because it is extremely profitable. If most of the nation falls under two groups, then you can make very good money by catering to one of those groups. It would be a lot harder to have biased news if beliefs were more dispersed. There is also too much of a focus on emotion on both sides. Emotion is not inherently bad, but the things it paves the way for are. Using emotion can further the political divide. Using emotion distracts people from the facts. Using emotion can make the facts irrelevant. Using emotion can make indoctrination extremely easy. It is how people are radicalized. Just watch any radical news source and you will see what they really focus on, fact or emotion. As a teenager, I had just come away from a very life changing event. I didn't necessarily feel lost, but I would've appreciated any direction my life could have been given. So, it wasn't very hard for me to fall down a political rabbit hole (conservative). Looking back there are some very scary realizations. The ideas I held were not all my own. I confronted new ideas only looking to prove my current ideas correct. Even scariest of all, I found that I still got angry when people made fun of conservatives long after I had decided that I did not want to affiliate myself with any one given party. Passion is a very dangerous tool that can light the darkness, but look at it too long and it will blind you.