Who says you can't learn anything from watching TV? School House Rock has certainly taught the United States well: Politics in this nation is like the three-ring circus described in the famous educational cartoon. Though the spectacular interplays of legislative, judiciary and executive branches are almost as entertaining to sit back and watch as P.T. Barnum's lions, tigers and bears, they collectively produce nothing. They are simply jumping through hoops.
In all three rings of the civic circus, partisan politics has run amok. The Us v. Them\ game is fueled by the ""if you're not with us, you're against us"" mentality that rules our nation's leaders.
Yet, it is not only the folks in Washington that are to blame. This process begins at universities, the greatest political sifting and organizing machines know to man (and woman, to maintain political correctness). Long before ballots are cast for elected officials, stereotypical molds are set and prototypes are sorted into bins of ideological groups.
After four years of shaping and polishing, we are shipped out to the world, perfectly packaged and branded as left, right, liberal, conservative, Democrat, Republican, Socialist, Libertarian, independent, apathetic. Yet we fail to realize a rather simple fact: labels disable.
Labels used to define groups by their political ideology are more often thrown about with the verbal firepower of a profane and defamatory slur. We wrinkle our noses at the opposition and sneer forth assumptions on their views before even attempting to listen and form a compromise.
Affiliations then create the notion that anyone classified under that generic group will be accused of thinking one way only. This creates a group of closet Republicans or closet Democrats that never fully participate in the democratic process. These are the many meek who on election night 2004 secretly snuck over to their Republican friends' houses to celebrate and reluctantly admitted this to their Democrat friends several weeks later, afraid of backlash. In this timidity of political opinion, society hinders itself. In this nation of free speech, voices still remain silent in fear of chastisement.
The extreme loyalties students cling to for political affiliation also promote groupthink and hinder individual action. Peer pressure in college does not only apply to beer bongs and party drugs. The young and unformed political ideals that students held growing up become manifested in the excitement of group collectiveness and college protest rallies, and before they realize it, they've become close-minded extremists—only because they went along with what their friends were doing.
Democracy would truly represent the people of this nation fully if we all had the guts to fly solo, unbound by labels speaking our minds. If the most patriotic act is embracing freedom of expression, then remaining silent only to fit into the set civic molds fashioned for us through affiliation is the most un-patriotic act one can commit.
There is no denying that political parties are excellent organizing tools for political behavior. The danger comes when cohesiveness turns into coerciveness. In a society so eager to please, it is extremely difficult to be the voice of dissent. When going against the grain, it is guaranteed that one is bound to anger others with opposite views. Nonetheless, we cannot shirk away from free political expression for fear of what someone else will say.
Like Michael Douglas' fictional commander in chief said in ""The American President,"" ""You want free speech? Let's see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who is standing center stage advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours.""
Therein lies democracy at its finest; give and take of diverse participants attempting to acknowledge one another though divided by idealistic differences.
So speak up, America—democracy's yearning to listen.
Kelly Schlict is a sophomore majoring in journalism. Her column runs every Monday. Send responses to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
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