Everyone has heard about the increasing polarization within our country. People are becoming more and more divided, and that’s impacting people’s daily lives. The Republican vs Democrat debate is a contentious one, to the point where I would argue that it can potentially impede basic civility. However, at the local level, we should not have this intense hatred for one another. When considering municipal elections, everyone is a part of one community—people are neighbors. To this end, a set of different or no political parties could help diffuse tension on a more local level.
To start off with a disclaimer, this concept is an idea, and never likely to be instituted in practice, at least not on a large scale. The dominance of the Republican and Democratic parties makes it difficult to completely disconnect them from a more localized level. While there may be exceptions, this idea would be extremely difficult to implement across the country. That said, it has its merits and is worth considering.
Republicans and Democrats do not like each other. This is a simple fact. In 2019, the Pew Research Center found that “55% of Republicans and 47% of Democrats view members of the other party as more immoral than other Americans.” The political divide in the United States has become a major issue, to the point that people of opposite parties view one another as bad people, and that’s not okay. Even I admittedly see people differently based on which end of the political spectrum they fall on, and these preconceptions about other people are a terrible thing that is ingrained in the polarized culture of the United States. This all happens despite the fact that we’re all human beings who, for the most part, have good intentions for the direction we want our government and country to go.
At the local level, there should not be this amount of polarization. Not only is it not good for people’s interactions with one another, it just does not make sense. The issues argued at the national level are exceedingly different than those at the local level. People think of Republicans as in favor of the right to bear arms, pro-life, and in favor of increased privatization. On the other hand, people think of democrats as pro-choice, in favor of increased government healthcare and support of LGBTQ+ rights. These are largely national and statewide issues, but not all of them are relevant at the municipal level. The decisions made there are a lot more local, such as those concerning the school system. Bringing our preconceptions and disagreements about national and statewide topics to an arena where most of the issues we would think of are not relevant is counterproductive.
Instead, we should have a system where, at the municipal level, there are different parties or no parties at all. If there are parties, they should have stances more tailored to the specific issues impacting a town. This system would have two major benefits. To start, it would shed the toxic debate between the larger parties, at least when it comes to more local debate. People won’t see their neighbor listed as a Democrat or Republican on the ballot and have as harsh feelings towards them, assuming the new system does not become just as polarized. Also, it makes the debate that is had at the local level more productive. Overall, this system would be a way for us to take our negative feelings about politics aside and focus on making local politics more civil and relevant, helping to improve communities at large.