When George Washington left office in 1796, he gave an address to the American people. He thanked them for electing him to office for two terms, he asked that they not forget to have affection for their nation and he spoke of the "debt of gratitude" he held for his country.
He also warned the American people of an evil of sorts, a cancer within democracy that began rearing its head with the birth of our nation and has malignantly grown into a monster that has suppressed our rights as Americans to be represented in the government of our great nation. The cancer that plagues this nation is the two-party system that has developed.
George Washington saw this for the problem it has always been and recognized that if political leaders formed parties, it would lead to the representation of only certain groups' views. Frankly, I do not feel represented by the policy agendas that make it out of either party in our government - and please don't tell me I can be an independent. How many seats do they hold in Congress?
These partisan politics can be seen in the governmental gridlocks on almost every issue. If you ever look at our government and wonder why it seems like nothing is being accomplished, think about the party system.
This problem passed from politicians to many of their supporters. I did not go to a College Democrats meeting here at AU until the beginning of my sophomore year. A friend was going to their first meeting, and I figured I would tag along to see what it was like. I proceeded to sit through about 20 minutes of the College Democrats' executive board yelling rhetoric and describing what they wanted to do to defeat the "evil" College Republicans. The firebrand speeches reminded me of military commanders about to lead their troops into battle.
After the 20 minutes I felt sick - so sick, in fact that I had to stand up and walk from the second row and out the door. As I stood in the hall right outside of Ward 1, I began to think, is this what our country has turned into? Is this partisan attitude the present and future of our country?
So what did I do? I walked into the Republicans' meeting across the hall in Ward 2. I spent about another 20 minutes there standing in the back of the room, listening to the Republican executive board outline their plan of attack on the Democrats. They discussed how they wanted to start protesting things on campus they did not like and how they would become the most politically active that semester.
After this experience, I wondered how our country even functions when its busy fighting itself. On top of this, the problem has only gotten worse over the years; the politicians in these parties have only become more polarized while the people have remained generally moderate.
So what is an unmotivated and moderate populace to do? Probably nothing. Though the parties have grown more extreme, there is such an even split in the public that policy doesn't change all that much.
In the end, the two political parties in our country are like two stuck-up kids on a seesaw. Each is as stubborn as the next and refuses to get down to give a push - they just sit there in the air, going nowhere.
Dave Stone is a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences and the School of International Service and the managing editor for photography at The Eagle.
