Is "Divided" America a lie?

[ro9ue]

Every media outlet cries that America is so divided. That it's left and right. Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton.

But is that really true? What if America had 30 options for President on the ballot of all varying degrees on the political spectrum. Wouldn't we just see a proportionally segregated vote as well?

So it's not that everyone is so divided, it's that we are all forced to define ourselves in the embodiment of 2 political parties.


As a person who sees a ton of nuance in the positions of most Americans including myself, my only choices are this or that.

What that does is force me into 1 camp vs the other. I might be extremely conflicted about who I support, and just by slight edge I decided for one or the other. The moment I do that, all of the other intricacies of my position become irrelevant. I'm either Trump or Clinton. R or D.

This shouldn't be acceptable. We should be able to have a complex position. We should be able to have a wide variety of choices for President.

What if the 2016 national election had Sanders, Trump, Clinton, Rubio, etc etc all available for us to choose?



We are "divided" by design. Our system gives us no room for nuance. We have to pick red or blue. This is fucking stupid shit.

[Venant]

It is a lie, but its a very profitable lie for all the people who peddle grievance culture and a promise of moral superiority over people who disagree with you.

[Deleted]

Nothing stops you from voting third party.

Believe it or not at some point there was no Republican party either, they became a thing because enough people voted for them.

[Independent voter]

A divided America is hyperbole. We've always had Republicans and Democrats, always will have them. It's not a division, it's just two points of view.

[Damajin]

The division isn't absolute so in that sense it is a lie, as that is always how it is cast as being complete and expanding.

There's certainly a large section of the population that fits that, and then there's the rest who don't fit there or don't JUST fit there.

As to be expected there's shades of grey between the dynamic poles.

[freakyduck]

You don't know much about the electoral process in America, do you? There are always a ton of candidates for President and then they narrow it down based on votes, primaries and other things until there are at least 2 candidates. Sometimes we get a little variety with a third "independent" candidate, but not very often.

America IS divided and that's just how the government wants it. Americans argue over every little thing and whine that each special "category" of people don't have their own special rights, then they are being discriminated against and must go hide in a safe place behind a stack of safety pins.

I can only imagine the positive things that COULD be accomplished if the entire citizen base of America wasn't so divided and actually held the Government accountable for the corruption that is in DC.

[jackofwind]

It's not divided in the sense of everyone is either Red or Blue.

It's just fallout from having had your country defined by a civil war, especially one in a country so large and with such a high population. There is tension ingrained into the national identity of the US, and with such a large population there will always be sizeable groups of people who don't get along.

Not getting along doesn't need to mean not being able to communicate or treat each other with respect even while disagreeing, but that's another issue entirely. I'd say the US is a highly economically divided country, and there are trends tied to that (states, races, sexes, etc. etc.) which muddy the waters. But at the end of the day in the US money is power, and there is a phenomenal national divide between the rich and the poor.

Bear this in mind though: most people are moderates. Even with the most simple explanation, if you divide the population into four equal segments (and the far right/left are not even close to being accurately represented in this example) there are more moderates (the two centre quarters) than there are fringe people on either wing (1/2 vs 1/4 vs 1/4). Now take into account that the fringes are actually vastly less represented than that in reality, and you see that moderates are easily the most populous group.

The issue is just that moderates are, well, moderate - they're not outspoken and they don't preach on soapboxes in the way that the two fringe groups (being extreme-leaners) do. It's exactly like on the Blizzard forums: the reality is that there are vastly more people playing the game and not being vocal than there are people venting on the forums. Don't get confused into thinking that the vocal minority in any way represents the greater silent whole.

[Super Kami Dende]

The largest divide is between the Far ends of both Spectrums. The issue is, these ends try to push the relatively stable central-to-leaning people to one side or the other.

The Media also perpetuates this by trying to make certain view points more "socially" acceptable and makes people feel bad for having their own opinion on the matters.

[Torto]

The divide has always been there, particularly in a two party system. It has only become more pronounced in the last decade or so because we all have more avenues to shout at one another. Before you would just sit in your lounge room and yell at the tv. Now you can jump online and yell at the world.

[Ahovv]

It isn't that you as an individual is forced into picking from two parties; it's that the majority of the populace buys into it. I accepted long ago that the majority of our country isn't intelligent enough to make an informed decision.

[belleflop]

Whatever headline sells the most. That's what America is to the media.

[HumbleDuck]

As you said US is, by design, devided. It never has been a united country, it has always been a union of States.

[PACOX]

It's a lot of bells and whistles because it sells papers, ads, seats, ratings.

We're where homogeneous, which is fine, but we aren't so politically opposed that people from different parties aren't incompatible. Most people get a long, most people don't go around saying "dirty conservative" or "dirty liberal".

Congress can act ignorant as fuck, goes for both parties, but people tend to be less partisan when it comes to their daily lives as you approach local government and life.

Remember when it was cool to be a Moderate? Now everyone wants to try to talk about how Left or Right they are.

[Felya]

Nothing stops you from voting third party.

Believe it or not at some point there was no Republican party either, they became a thing because enough people voted for them.

What party did the majority of those becoming republican belong to? Was it the same party, before primary voting was public, that splintered off, regardless of any vote?

[Xeones]

There are differences but they aren't what I think is the bigger issue. Right now both parties are owned by the corporations, and they don't benefit from the people knowing that. So they come up with irrelevant stuff like abortion or gay marriage. And they hype that irrelevant stuff up pretty easily since the media do what ever the parties tell them to for access.

Is America divided? Yes, but it is a division set up and paid for by corporate interests.

[dacoolist]

America is divided only by how much money you have. IMO, the political crap is a bunch of hot air

[Deleted]

It's not a division, it's just two points of view.

That's what the two parties want you to think. I'm pretty sure almost nobody agrees with any particular party on every topic if you sit down and talk to them about it. They just go with the one that has an overall better feel to them. More choice is good. There can be more than two points of view on a single topic, never mind about a broad range of issues. Politicians in the US want you to be antagonistically tribal to divert attention from how badly you're all being screwed.

[Stormspark]

There's no such thing as "left" in the US. Democrats are center-right. Republicans are so far to the right that they break the scale. Bernie is a centrist, even he wouldn't be considered left.

[Aoyi]

There are a lot of independents in the US. It's not a binary system. Just because there are two highly publicized parties with their respective figure heads, it doesn't mean you can't vote 3rd party as well.

[breadisfunny]

There are a lot of independents in the US. It's not a binary system. Just because there are two highly publicized parties with their respective figure heads, it doesn't mean you can't vote 3rd party as well.

except they get the lion's share of the coverage which means they are pretty much gonna steamroll any third party candidate because most of the voting bloc is unaware of them.