Post 6: Politcal Parties

 Listening to the Silenced Voices 

Society in America is infatuated with the idea of a solid, free democracy with the full freedom of thought and expression. However, we don’t really utilize that in practice, at least with the major news networks in America. Major news channels, like CNN or FOX NEWS, and major news publications, like The New York Times or the Washington Post will obviously have their own slants on current events but more than likely, their takes will be in the same realm of ideas. 

We see CNN and Fox pinned as complete opposites, CNN being extremely liberal and Fox being extremely conservative. However, both channels cover the same topics and have, relatively, the same “solutions” to world problems; they represent each side of the two-party democratic system and therefore, are somewhat similar based on the fact that they are both the main democratic parties.

You never really see major news channels represent, or even just show the perspectives, of the other parties, like the Independent party or the Green party, two examples of America’s third political parties. 

It's very rare that major news channels will promote ideas that don’t fall into either Democratic or Republican ideals and instead advocate for any of the third-party’s ideals. To hear voices that differ from the mainstream, one has to actively look for websites that promote those ideas and advance further discussion or viewpoints. 

These two websites, The American Conservative and Anti-War, are examples of voices that are out of America’s norm and therefore, are not promoted by the big news companies. These websites express ideas that promote either extremely conservative values or extreme anti-war values. Both of those ideas don’t fit in America’s political norms and then don’t get promoted by major news outlets because they produce different solutions to American political issues that go against the mainstream. To have solutions that go against the most popular two would create further discussion and if there is further discussion, it could lead to compromise or just communication between individuals of all political perspectives. By only promoting two ideas, it creates a “us vs them” dynamic in politics which is profitable for politicians by pinning Americans against each other. 

Americans should reach out to news outlets or opinion pieces that are not promoted by major media outlets to find out what others are thinking about current events, even if it goes completely against one's values, just to understand what other Americans are thinking. This type of activity would promote civil discourse which would benefit individual Americans, rather than major politicians, who benefit by only promoting the two-party system.