By Cameron Pierre-Pierre
It sometimes feels like the world is coming to an end when I turn on the TV, and catch up with the election. There is the predictable, yet no less concerning Donald Trump scandals. Recently, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren has reduced herself to the roll of attack dog for Clinton (in a potential bid for the VP spot). The left and right wings have both collapsed. The right keeps reassuring everyone that they will be unified and stronger by the end of the election. The left keeps reassuring everyone that ignorance will not prevail over intelligence, even though we’ve seen with the so called “Brexit” that isn’t necessarily true.
I think one of the big reasons why everything is collapsing in on itself is a lack of communication, like in a relationship. No, I’m serious. Hear me out. Many people in this country have been feeling economic insecurity, and that is legitimate. Other people want to keep our country open to outsiders and grow and evolve, which is also legitimate. The problem is that for the past several decades, politicians on both sides of the aisle have been pitting the population against each other. They’ve polarized our political system to the point where for some reason, if you are against abortion; you are also against gay marriage and want to restrict immigration. That is obviously an over simplification but the point is that we have drawn battle lines between two currently incompatible political ideologies.
Now this is where communication is key. We will never all understand each others positions if we can’t talk and see it from the other side. People who feel differently should have a forum by which they want to communicate their differences, not elected officials that antagonize and exacerbate them. These problems existed well before this election, but it certainly hasn’t done anything to improve the quality of our political discourse. If anything, it has made cross-ideological communication less likely. Unfortunately, if we don’t start communicating, it is unlikely that our leaders will ever get anything done. And that just might cause the end of the world.