The Invisible War

War. A word that conjures feelings that no other word can. One may think of bloody battles, war movies, famous generals or historic wars.  One may even feel the aching pain of loss that can only come from the death of a loved one or one may even think of America's current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, not many would imagine that a war is going on in the U.S. today, a war that is invisible to most; the invisible war of politics that will destroy this once great nation.

The United States of America's government is a democratic republic which, by definition, is "a political system in which a country is ruled by law, has a representative government, and is democratic in nature." In other words, people elect their representatives, such as senators and the president, that then make laws and rule the country. The representatives that the people choose to elect are usually either democrats or republicans, which means that the U.S. also has a bipartisan system. This style of government holds many advantages. For instance, because there is a two party system, there is supposed to be a healthy competition that will eventually spit out the best idea and therefore help the country. If in this country there were to be a one party system, there might not be the competitive edge that many think is vital to this country's success. In addition, because there is a two party system, the balance of power remains exactly that. This ensures that people in power will have different opinions, making sure that no one party is in complete control. In theory, the bipartisan system works excellently and for the majority of the United State's history, it has worked very well indeed. Now, however, the same system that helped make this country great is going to tear it to pieces before we even realize it is happening.

This bipartisan system has come to the point that instead of helping the United States, it is destroying it. The problem is that politician's and senator's lust for power, and have started making decisions based on what their party believes instead of what they personally believe. A great example of this is the government healthcare bill that just passed. Almost every single democrat in senate voted for the healthcare bill and every single republican voted against it. This is due to the fact that instead of the health care bill being for the good of the people like it should be, it turned into a power struggle between liberals and conservatives. When this happened, the actual content of the bill was completely forgotten. For example, liberals stated that it did not contain funding for free abortions, whereas the conservatives stated the opposite. Both statements cannot possibly be true so which one is it? The point is that nobody knows because as far as the politicians are concerned, the health care bill was just a way to get a "victory" over their opponents. If we all work for the same country, then why should there be opponents that another party has to "defeat"? Politicians should all work together to achieve a common goal that would improve the U.S., instead of to get power for themselves or for their parties. A country cannot possibly make any progress with this kind of division. It has turned from friendly competition into full on war. The two party system is now like two armies that fight each other because their commanders tell them to do so. There is no independent thought among politicians anymore. Just as Marines are given orders by thier superiors and are expected to follow them without question, Republicans and Democrats are just expected to go along with whatever their party thinks, as is the case with the health care bill and many other political and social issues today. The only thing that a mutated two party government such as this holds is danger.

The cure for this infected country is to get rid of the two party system completely. In the short term, this would cause a lot of turmoil. For instance, how would the people vote? One would actually have to vote for what they believe in, instead of just going along with their party.  This could create a problem because if one person was completely defeating all the opposition because of the massive funds they had for campaigning, then it would not be a fair election. This problem is a difficult one to fix, but if presidential candidates were given a salary cap so to speak and were only allowed to spend a fixed amount on campaigning given by the government, it would solve this problem. Another problem would be picking the actual presidential candidates . Although it may sound absurd, what if presidential elections were held like American Idol? There would be a total of twelve presidential candidates that the people vote are the most adept, and then each week the one receiving the fewest votes is kicked off until only the two primary candidates are left to do their campaigning. Of course people would have to go to polling stations the next day to vote, but it just might be crazy enough to work. In the long term, getting rid of the two party system would be very good. Laws would get passed because they make sense, presidential elections would be more fair and the war in this country would be over. If there were no parties, politicians would actually have to think for themselves and then make decisions based on what is best for their country, not just what their party is telling them to do. Hopefully, the American citizens would also vote for the politicians or president that they actually think is best instead of voting for the party they are registered under.

In a nation that is already involved in two wars, a third one is certainly not needed. The solution to this war is not an easy one, but Americans have made it through tougher issues in the past. They say that the only way to stop history from repeating itself is by learning from it. It has been proven time and time again that great countries destroy themselves from the inside out. Rome certainly managed to prove this. Perhaps if this invisible war is stopped while it is still possible, Americans will not be doomed to repeat history.