It’s needless the say that the political pendulum shifts with time and that the views of the two main political parties have also changed. This is natural as populations change, which affects the overall view of the electorate. However, in recent years this trend has taken on the more disturbing trend that ultimately may damage the ability for the country to progress.

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Examining the trends of American’s views show this polarization most evidently. Not only has the number of people who express consistently liberal or conservative views has doubled, over the past 20 years, but so has partisan antipathy, which is the view that the other party is very unfavorable, with a large majority of those with very unfavorable views seeing the other party as a direct threat to the well-being of the nation. In addition, 63% of conservatives and 49% liberals state that they share most of the same views with their friends. Finally, since the mid-to-late 2000’s the views of both Democrats and Republicans, which had previously moved to the left or right largely in tandem, have now begun to shift in opposite directions towards the end of the political spectrum.

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Looking at this data explains a lot about the current political climate. Political gridlock is now the norm, as shown during Obama years where a Republican Congress refused to work with the Democratic president at all, refusing to compromise on anything at all, which resulted in a government shutdown in 2013 that came within days of causing the government to default, which has never happened in our nation’s history. This was also shown with the Supreme Court battles over the seats of Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy, as Mitch McConnel refused to even grand Obama’s appointee Merrick Garland a hearing, let alone a vote on the Senate floor, and then had to change the rules of the Senate to force Neil Gorsuch through instead of choosing to confirm a less politically extreme judge. A similar situation occurred with the appointment of Brett Kavanaugh, who was confirmed by the smallest margin since 1881. To contrast, Ruth Bader Ginsberg was confirmed by a margin of 96 to 3 in 1993.

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This polarization in Supreme Court hearings has a dangerous precedent, as it leads to the politicization of the high court, leading to ruling based solely on political grounds instead of the Constitution. In addition, it could lead to a series of political plays surrounding the high court that could delegitimize it in the eyes of the people. Calls for court packing from Democratic circles sprung up shortly after as Justice Kennedy announced his retirement, which if the Democrats take control both houses of Congress and the White House in 2020, could be on the table, which could lead to a vicious cycle of political parties adding seats to the court and filling them with like-minded justices the second that party gains control.

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In addition, this polarization has another major issue, that being the creation of ideological echo chambers. As mentioned above, a large number of people share their views with those around them, but the internet has allowed people to pick and choose where they get their news from. The data is much more distinct between the two groups than many of the other issues. Those who are more conservative are more likely to get their news from a single source, namely Fox News, which 47% of hardcore conservatives claim is their primary source of information. To contrast, hardcore liberals are less spread out, with CNN being the top source at 15%, followed by NPR at 13%, MSNBC at 12% and the New York Times at 10%. Conservatives are also more likely to distrust the media than liberals. In addition, a number of sources distrusted by liberals are trusted by conservatives and vice-versa.

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This data shows that political polarization may originate from the news. People seem to be drawn to news that confirms their views and reject those that refute them. This is dangerous as it leads to both sides having two different versions of reality which will only serve to further the pollical divide as if parties can’t agree on what a problem even is, how can they begin to fix it?

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Ultimately this polarization has left a very significant chunk of the political spectrum out of the equation, that being the moderates. As Democrats slowly move towards the socialist tendencies of Bernie Sanders and Republicans rapidly bolt towards the far-right tendencies of Donald Trump, those in the middle are left without a candidate to call their own. Furthermore, those with mixed views are more unable to find a candidate who properly matches their views, as the two parties rarely have any variation in the views of their candidates, especially at the state-wide and federal levels. Additionally, the role of the moderate in Congress to facilitate middle ground and compromise between the two sides is erased, and progress is halted in exchange for a constant ping-pong between the parties undoing what the other party did once they get power. At the end of the day, without moderates, America is on a collision course with disaster as the two parties attempt to destroy each other as opposed to working together to help the nation.