One nation, indivisible.

Beneath our stretching cities and sprawling suburbs; our gradient mountains and grandiose fields; the flip of a calendar has shocked awake a great, pounding, American heartbeat. The year has been long and loud – throats are sore with disease and devastation; minds are latched on to one axis with certainty.

Our great rift is currently creeping upon the seams of state boundaries with poignant red and blue threads. As each vote falls into its spool, narrow eyes between totals expose the severity of our conflict. For the federal government is not foreign to prancing between poles – the American people are.

Clearly, the public has grown comfortable with their immediate communities. Over the past six years, adults and adolescents have burrowed further into such nests of comfort, seeing the world beyond these caches as sharp and scary. At every turn, those of inverse beliefs stand armed with self-righteousness, reprimands, and reproach. It is impossible for either faction to see the benefit of the other. It is impossible for either faction to understand one another. It is impossible for either faction to love America, together.

One nation, indivisible.

Human rights and political preference have been hitched by the sullied mechanic of time – clattering cars hurtling down the jubilant rails of democratic chaos. In this election, the stakes have never been greater; the ability to avert one’s eyes has never been lower. And so, we insist on being sectional.

According to Gallup polling, in July of 2004, just 27% of individuals polled identified as ‘Independent’ of either major party. By July of 2014, this number had spiked to 46%. By July of 2020, the same count only regressed to 38%.

However, the rise in independent voters does not invalidate the growth of partisanship – rather, it supports it. American voters choose to be unaffiliated for a variety of reasons, ranging from disinterest in civic participation to distaste for the two-party system. The increase in these numbers, though, is largely due to an influx of moderates that feel alienated from the hard left and hard right flanks encroaching upon the Democratic and Republican parties. A large portion of the American electorate now wears their colors under the mask of this arbitrary label, a label that fails to mitigate the consequences of leeching moderation from the major parties.

Regardless of affiliation, the increased departure from center sheds an unprecedented view of politics unto America’s youth: it is likely that future generations of voters will perpetuate the growing trend. Within such a climate, too, the phenomenon of political families thrives.

When the cohort across the aisle is so resolute, so proud, so other – the modern response is natural. It is natural to retreat towards the comfort of community; it is natural to burrow within the bounty of self-assurance. Citizens, especially, draw knitted groups around their shoulders to watch election results tick in. Citizens are most impulsive in their public judgement of one another, as without the media’s cameras or Congress’ might, it is permissible to speak loosely. Citizens create the character of national politics, and today, politics are theater, politics are sport, politics are entertainment. As relatives gather in person or spirit to await a show on the stage, victory on the pitch, or joy from the arts, Americans now lock hands to watch the civic scene with those of mirrored vision.

From this community, voters and youth alike feel an abounding sense of comfort and hope. Yet, blinding oneself to the multitude of differences is a cheap escape from reality. It may bring a temporary relapse from partisan bickering, but it is ultimately detrimental to democracy. It is irresponsible to imagine that eventually, the opposition will simply “come around” – when both parties view the other as such, neither departs from their realized niche.

One nation, indivisible.

In real families – as happy and safe as one may feel at home – there is no growth without a departure from the known. Likewise, despite the light heart political families may bring, locking doors to the neighbor will only darken the town.

The only truly unsurmountable rift between the left and right in American politics is that which both sides perpetuate. Though it is difficult, and though it is undesirable, we must open our doors to one another and engage in decent and honorable discourse. But this process cannot begin, and it cannot succeed, unless the truth of purpose, the championing of undeniable justice, and the reverence of democratic processes prevails.

We must be one nation, indivisible. We must reckon with the injustice and inexcusable disparities that prevent technical discussion from taking place. And once we do, we must bid adieu to our political families, set aside our shared joy, and address our shared divide.