Democratic Party Lacks Unity

The American political system has been plagued with vexatious, irreversible party divides since its colonial beginning; a divided nation is hardly a new concept for this struggling country. Any attempt to mend the disastrous relations between the Democratic and Republican parties are seemingly hopeless, and amidst the cataclysmic responses to Donald Trump’s presidency, new divisions within the Democratic party have become more apparent on the surface level.

It is easy to see the varying levels of progressivism represented by people who label themselves as Democrats. The ultimate recent Democratic divide came from Hillary Clinton verses Bernie Sanders supporters: the primary election showcased the reluctance of some Democrats, namely Clinton supporters, to back a candidate such as Sanders who held such progressive policies that seem rather unrealistic due to the current political leanings in the house and senate.

These moderate Democrats are the type who campaign on the idea of working across the aisle; crossing party lines in order to compromise. While some moderately liberal politicians may have more progressive ideas on their own, they set them aside in order to cooperate with Republicans, who hold the majority in every branch of government.

There is a certain advantage to this bipartisan way of thinking, as many Republicans and Democrats who tend to have a more middle-of-the-road political approach claim that it is the most efficient way to get things done. Many important votes have been made by self-proclaimed bipartisan efforts, despite the fact that bipartisanship has such a faulty definition that a vote can be considered so if, for example, only one Democrat votes yes on a Republican bill.

Hence, where there is a pro, there is always a con: bipartisanship is often seen in a rather unflattering light, The New York Times referring to it as “a way of eliminating the few differences between the parties and forcing Democrats, even when they are in power, to continue to embrace Republican governing approaches.”

This is exactly why the more progressive branches of the Democratic party tend to reject the idea of bipartisanship: they believe that progress cannot be met by compromise, but instead, by pushing through the barriers put up by Republicans. There has been a recent surge in this progressivism in the aftermath of the 2016 election, proven by the recent Democratic wins in the off-year gubernatorial and legislative elections just a few months back.

To bring it down to a more human level instead of focusing solely on elected officials, the differing ideas within Democratic constituents on how to deal with Trump boasts the implications of this divide. While moderates believe that cooperating with Trump and attempting to work with him and his party is one way to counteract his neuroses, a growing number of more liberal Democrats would much rather reject his presidency as a whole than attempt to compromise with him.

And honestly, it seems that we have reached a point in this presidency where compromise with Trump is an unfathomable idea. The American political system has become more than divided in the wake of such a rogue president, it has become polarized.

The polarity between Republicans and Democrats is at a level that Democrats cannot reach if they have any hope for defeating the Republican house and senate majority next year, much less regaining the presidency in 2020. Negative campaigning between two Democratic candidates only serves to further divide a party that is already badly damaged beneath the surface of unanimous hatred of Trump.

Complete political unity is inscrutable in the current day, but despite their differences, moderate and progressive democrats alike must make an effort to create an energized party in hopes of sweeping success in 2018 and 2020. Without unification, there is the possibility of another disastrous election such as 2016, which could’ve possibly been avoided by a stronger sense of togetherness leading to higher voter turnout (and if there wasn’t Russian meddling, but that’s a story for another time).