Toxic political polarization

By the time the elections hit in 2020, I had completely had it with the politics and propaganda in the news and on social media. The destructive divisional politics practiced by both parties made me feel depressed and hopeless. It seemed that the intent of every political article was to scare everyone by blaming the other side for all the problems in the country. If necessary, just invent something despicable that they were supposed to have done that sounds real. Then add the most extreme personal attacks possible, demonizing them so voters become fearful and hateful. It became obvious to me that it was all orchestrated by both political parties through the news media and social media.

No viable solutions offered for the political divide

All of this made me question, "Is there a solution to all of this?" I started reading recent books that claimed to resolve the divide looking for hope and reassurance. Everything I read pretty much espoused the party lines. The problems were due either to a nefarious plot by left-wing socialist extremists or the stupidity and indoctrination of the right-wing religious extremists. Allegedly, half of us just needed to change our beliefs and everything would be fine.

All of these authors echoed the propaganda that "those people" are not like you. They are crazy, deluded, indoctrinated, and dangerous and they are your enemies. It's okay to hate them. You'd better fear them. Your only option is to elect the correct party to power so it can run the government and have control over "those people" and their power-hungry politicians. Some of the older books on political philosophy were very helpful in understanding the problem but they offered no practical solutions on a national level.

As opposed to reducing the political divide, both major parties were orchestrating the hate through all forms of media and even through protest organizations.

Swapping out the ruling party didn't help

I was hoping that the turmoil might die down after the election but it didn't. The increasing border crisis, the omnibus bills in the trillions of dollars, the opposing federal and state voting bills, and inflation only increased the verbal war. Then came the abortion conflict. With every statement, each party communicated that democracy was threatened and that electing its candidates was the only hope for the future.

Most people seemed to line up on one side or the other and only read media that supported their views. They were incensed by social media posts that were contrary to their biases. Each article ignored some points and emphasized others to make one side sound reasonable and the other sound corrupt and against the people, if not insane. A few media companies and articles gave statements by both sides but such statements only reflected the extreme positions.

Two years after the elections, the division is only growing worse. Clearly, swapping out one political party for the other is not the solution to America's political divide. Many writers now blame it on the people themselves, as if a division of the people were inevitable.