American Politics: Take a Step Back with Me

by Aditya Todi | Stanford University

Aditya Todi

I am not an American. And therefore, I will not be eligible to vote for the upcoming elections. However, I write today not to advocate for one candidate over the other. Neither will I go into policy issues and what impact that may have on the future of America. I feel these issues are best left to people who have devoted an enormous amount of their time trying to understand the complexities that come with the terrain.

I write to you today as a humble observer of American politics.

I want you to stop for a moment…just for a moment…and take a deep breath.

Take this moment to simply appreciate how fortunate you are to live in a country where you know that every four years, on the first Tuesday of November, come what may, there will be elections to decide the leader and the future course of the nation.

As someone who has grown up in Nepal, a country where political turmoil is the norm and where regular elections are the exception rather than the rule, I truly want you to realize how fortunate you are. A large number of people in the world cannot brag about the privilege that you can on November 6^th. They do not know whether they will ever have an election to go to. And if they do, when the next elections, if any, will take place.  And if the elections do happen, whether these elections will be fair.

But, with elections also comes responsibility. A responsibility not just to vote, but to engage in matters that concern and affect us. As the political furor rises and political ads and rhetoric make way into our houses and dorms, it becomes so much easier for us as individuals to fall into the stereotype of polarizing political attitudes and to succumb ourselves to narrow mindedness. To actually believe that a single political label can fully define a person. To equate Republicans or Democrats into a single bloc and view them as the “other.” To view them as people who are selfish or less concerned about America. And here I will say lies perhaps the greatest flaw of American democracy.

I am often surprised by the silence that accompanies when I ask people to tell me just one or two things that they admire about a party different than their own. It’s a very simple question. Yet, the silence troubles me.

As humans, it is very comfortable for us to surround ourselves with people who more or less hold similar opinions as us, thereby creating a reinforcing mechanism that hinders us from understanding and appreciating an opinion or position different from our own. And while Web 2.0 has been effective in making information more cheaply and readily available, it can also add to reinforcement of false views.

As author and law professor Cass Sunstein wrote in his article for New York Times, “When people sort themselves into such enclaves [of people holding similar opinions and convictions], they tend to become more confident, more unified and more extreme”.

For a country that prides itself on diversity of thought and freedom of expression, not giving ourselves the opportunity to engage with people holding a view different than our own would be a folly.

As an American, one must not be just willing, but in active pursuit of engaging in such constructive conversations with people who identify with a party different than our own. And college provides us with a chance to do just this. This election season, if you’re a Democrat, take the time out to find and talk to a Republican. If you’re a Republican, find a Democrat to talk to. (Note: I say talk and not advocate or influence).

Politics does not have to be cruel. And if the political class does not understand this, then it becomes the responsibility of the citizenry to teach them. And maybe, just maybe, if we as young students can engage in such a simple exercise of conversation, perhaps our task of reaching across the aisle will become that much easier when we become leaders ourselves.

Aditya Todi Aditya, a Voices Contributor for NextGen Journal, is currently a Junior studying at Stanford University, CA. He is from Nepal and hopes to work with increasing civic engagement and bettering education in Nepal.