The Iowa Caucus for Republicans and Democrats occured on Feb. 3. In the Republican Caucus, Trump won 97 percent of the vote despite his impeachment trial. The Democratic Caucus has Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders at 26.2 percent and 26.1 percent, respectively. With only two parties being in power, Americans do not have a lot of choices for presidential candidates.
For voters who support the Democrats, it probably seems insane that a man who was impeached is still on the ballot for the November election. Likewise, voters who support Republicans probably hate the idea of a candidate with socialist ideas becoming the Democratic nominee.
Does it not seem insane that only two political parties are in control of the House and Senate? George Washington is quoted in his 1796 Farewell Address as saying, “The spirit of the party agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection.”
What Washington said about animosity can be seen in today’s political climate from both Republicans and Democrats. Both sides are guilty of trying to upstage one another and assigning blame to the other side for an action and saying the action represents the entire party.
On the “Fox News Rundown” podcast, GOP Rep. Tom Reed and former Democrat Rep. Harold Ford, Jr. talked about civility and if both parties can heal after the impeachment trial and acquittal of Trump.
In an article from Fox News relating to the podcast, Reed called Pelosi’s action of ripping up Trump’s speech as childish and petty. Ford then goes on to say Trump needs to step up and be the adult in the room.
As a politically-involved citizen, I absolutely agree with Ford. Ripping up speeches is a childish act, but it also got the attention of the media. The focus of the State of the Union is on the ripping. Our president has his fair share of childish acts that we can not forget about, too.
Trump on Twitter has a habit of name-calling. A tweet from Trump relating to the impeachment has Trump calling Adam Schiff “shifty” and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez “dumb as a rock.” If it is not okay for the speaker of the house to be childish, it should not be okay for the President to be childish.
As Americans, we must all remember not every citizen will share the same ideology, religion or values. Citizens with differing ideas and religions are what makes America the great melting pot that it is. The fight should not be the left versus the right. The fight should be trying to make America great by uniting together.
When Americans stop putting political feelings in front of their fellow citizens’ feelings, America will truly become great again. Every person in the country will not agree on what to do about abortions, what to do about gun control or what to do about illegal immigrants.
To quote Abraham Lincoln during his presidential campaign, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”
