Chapter 11: Party Polarization In The United States

Outside of the political spectrum, there is another group of organizations that have perhaps and even stronger grasp on the media than media regulators themselves. The incredibly complex and well organized drug cartels that base themselves mostly in northern Mexico and along the coastline of the Gulf of Mexico are in many ways the most influential organizations in the nation’s media. As mentioned earlier, Mexican citizens were granted freedom of the press in the 1857 Federal Constitution giving them expressional rights that closely resembled the United States’ on paper. However, as the cartels ran rampant throughout the country some indirect restrictions were put on these rights. The cartels employ ruthless violence and torture in order to punish those who oppose them, including journalists and reporters who attempt to portray them in a negative light. Over the past decade “there have been ‘172 attacks on press freedom, including nine journalists and two media workers killed’” (Hernandez-Garcia 2012). As a result, anyone reporting on the drug wars is essentially risking his or her own life; a risk the majority of reporters are not willing to take. The fear of being found and captured by the cartel is enough to cause a chilling effect among reporters and even stop some news outlets from reporting on the cartel’s actions at all. That’s not to say that news of the cartels’ actions doesn’t get released to the public. Lepe summarized the media portrayals of the cartel as such:

The growing ideological gap between the United States’ two major political parties, in other words, rising levels of political polarization, has had a negative impact on American politics as it results in Congressional inefficient, public apathy, and economic inequality.

Sometimes this takes the form of wooing legislators, including legislators of another political party or ideological persuasion. When polarization and partisanship make such wooing hard if not impossible, that same ambition is likely to take the form of aiding the election of candidates who can be counted on to support one's

In his essay “Polarized Parties Are Good for America”, Matthew Yglesias asserts that the two-party system is ideal for America. He begins by stating that polarization is bad for elites, as it leaves little to no room for “self-styled players”. He then suggests that the two-party system is beneficial for voters, insisting that having clearly labeled candidates creates a “menu” that allows the masses to know what they’re voting for from the start. He concludes by stating that the problem isn’t in partisanship, but with the small number of parties. In this essay I will prove that the two-party system is bad for America.

Amidst the past eight years of lackluster economic advancement, America’s prowess and respect declining worldwide, increasing government involvement in daily lives, and a President seemingly unwilling to take a solid stance on a the global threat of terrorism, the transfer of power between political parties in the White House is not so stunning. Due to the two-party system, this is not an unprecedented phenomenon. The American people are constantly seeking a political party to garner their attention and adapt to changing times, opinions, demographics, and attitudes (Cohen) and this results in the alternation of power between the two key political parties.

Party Polarization is a defining feature of contemporary at both the elite and activist levels. Party polarization is defined as “the division between the two major parties on most political issues, with members of each party unified around their party’s positions with little crossover” (371). One explanation for party polarization is how the congressional districts are being sorted and how those districts play a role in the congressional elections. The congressional districts are drawn to favor one political party, republican or democrat, over another; in other words, they are “safe districts”. This is done by drawing a district in such a way that there is a clear majority of one party or the other. Lawmakers want to do this because it eliminates the competition within the general election.

Polarization in politics is a conflict that both Is Polarization a Myth written by Alan I. Abramowitz as well as Kyle L. Saunders and Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized America written by Morris P. Fiorina talk about. On a political scale it has either a republican side or a democrat side and in the articles they discuss whether or not people are in the middle of the scale, or on one side or the other. Alan and Kyle are trying to prove that people are beginning to choose one side or another and stated in Is Polarization a Myth, “Our evidence indicated that since 1970s, ideological polarization has increased dramatically among the mass public in the United States as well as among political elites”( Abramowitz and Saunders 542). Florina stated in chapter two that each election the votes came in 50:50. After reading the articles I came to a conclusion that I agree with Fiorina’s opinion on polarization.

Since the birth of America men have divided themselves into different parties to come up with ideas that would better the nation and themselves. George Washington, in his farewell address, warned Americans about the problems that would accompany political parties, but no one listened. Instead many different political parties began to slowly develop overtime causing many major and minor divisions. The rise of the Republican Party came about at the nation’s darkest and most divided hour, but they began the hard, war-torn steps of putting the Union back together.

"Democracy requires citizens to see things from one another 's point of view, but instead we’re more and more enclosed in our own bubbles. Democracy requires a reliance on shared facts; instead we’re being offered parallel but separate universes."- Eli Pariser. Polarization is part of life, from P.C and Mac, Pepsi vs. Coke to Xbox and PS4, humans tend to give an allegiance to the things they care about. In the past decade, the United States has seen a rise of political polarization in many aspects of life, from social networks to the election. Since the 2016 election polarization has been discussed more and more, there has been a spotlight on this current issue. This phenomena

These two phenomena are interconnected because not only is there a growing polarization between liberals and conservatives, but also within the Republican Party itself. It’s facing a historic divide over the party’s basic principles and identity. The issues raised by grass-roots voters (resistance to immigration, concern about wages, etc.) are deviating from and clashing with the Republican establishment’s interests (openness to immigration, free trade, etc.) (Healy and Martin – article from class).

When you observe the graph that the American National Election Studies has created, you begin to notice a pattern. This pattern would be that there was either an increase or decrease in the strength of the people's partisanship for each party around the time that a new president came into office. It seems that every single time that there was a change in the political leader of our country that people either felt very strong partisanship or very little. This must have to do with the idea that with each new president, the new issues arising in the country will be handled a certain way. Furthermore, how said issues are handled by those in office affect the partisanship. These new issues

The gaps have grown larger between Republicans and Democrats based on fundamental political beliefs. America’s two political parties have become so divided that it has come to be known as polarization. Divided government has been extremely common after World War II. Political polarization has increased intensely since the New Deal in the 1930s. The New Deal coalition emerged during the 1932 presidential election and had launched a partisan realignment in American politics, allowing the Democrats to become the majority party in US Politics.

Legislation will be passed in the House with a Republican majority but then will be

The Republican Party is one of the two major parties in America. Almost 200 thousand people follow the GOP on social media. But do you know how this party started? This party first started in 1854 in a schoolhouse in1854 where abolitionist came and voiced in their thoughts on slavery. Do you even know the history of this party? This party put in the first women supreme court justice and congresswomen.

The two parties have continued their 150 year long tug-of-war battle for dominance and over time have become symbols of American politics. It is nearly impossible to hold a political discussion without bringing up either or both of the parties or some prominent member thereof in reference to where they stand on the issue being discussed. A major