The USA: The Most Divided Country

Have you ever wondered why we live in a democratic country yet remain divided as a people? As a Canadian, who knows first hand what it is like to live in another democratic country which has a similar government to ours, the drastic divide in America has always perplexed me. There is no advanced industrialized democracy in the world that is as politically divided as the United States of America and I argue that this is due to the long lasting legacy of racism and slavery, the toxic nature of capitalism, and our biased media system.

Canada, where I grew up and the majority of my extended family reside, has been a first world democratic country for over one hundred fifty years. There are five political parties: The Liberal Party of Canada, The Conservative Party of Canada, The New Democratic Party, The Green Party, and The Bloc Quebecois (The Canada Guide, 2022). However, the two dominating groups are the Liberal Party of Canada which is comparable to our Democratic Party and the Conservative Party of Canada which parallels our Republican Party. Although the structure of the Canadian political system has some differences, the core values are similar. Nevertheless, the Canadian people are a far more cohesive population than present day Americans.

Living in Canada and visiting several times a year, I never witnessed a visible political divide between the Liberals and Conservatives or by the French and the English Canadians. Everyone attempts to get along with one another and politics are set aside as it is not a prominent topic of conversation. For example, when I went out to dinner with my friends in Canada, there was no conversation about the current prime minister or any attempt to know my political party allegiance. But now, and especially when Trump was in office, every time I meet someone at school or go to dinner with an old friend, they would feel compelled to mention politics. On the surface, it appears that the reason we are divided in the U.S.A. is because we put such an emphasis on people’s political opinions, as if politics define a person’s character. If you are conservative, you are labeled as racist, homophobic, and sexist. If you are liberal, you are labeled as a supporter of critical race theory and as an individual who expects the rich to pay more taxes in order to aid the poor. In Canada, we do not have stereotypes like that and it is irrelevant if your friends or family members associate with a different political party than you. Yes, both parties have different platforms and beliefs but their ideas overlap with one another on tough topics such as abortion. People often vote based on the politician running for prime minister and their specific platform, rather than on their political party allegiance. In fact, most Canadians are not affiliated with one of the five parties. According to a study done by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada in 2006, “between 1 and 2 percent of Canadians belong to a political party on a year-to-year basis. This places Canada at the bottom of the list of Western democracies'' (OPC, 2012). On the other hand, according to the Pew research center in 2020 in the United States, “34% of registered voters identify as independent, compared with 33% who identify as Democrats and 29% who identify as Republicans” (Pew Research Center, 2021). In total, 62 percent of Americans are associated with one of the two main political parties which is drastically different from the two percent of Canadians being affiliated with a certain political party.

One major factor in the political polarization we face in the U.S.A., is the long lasting legacy of race and slavery, which was not prevalent in Canada. Canada as a whole has always been more open to immigration than the United States, creating a more diverse population and less racial inequality. The United States of America compared to other democratic countries, such as Canada, is unique in their troubled history with race relations, and the effect of their past lingers since as a country we have not done enough to solve it. For example, it took almost one hundred years after the end of the Civil War for the 1964 Civil Rights Act to pass which made it illegal to discriminate based on race specifically in the work place. Once the first black president, Barack Obama, was elected, this paved the way for African Americans in politics, but it was not until 2008. Even though we do have anti discrimination laws in place and several social/racial justice groups, there is more work to be done to put Black people and White people on an equal playing field. Merely two years ago, in May, 2020, George Floyd, an innocent black man, was brutally killed by three white policemen. This event was a catalyst for riots that spewed across the country and brought the race and political divide to the forefront. People labeled others as Republican for being pro-police and as a Democrat if you wanted to defund the police. Democrats and Republicans formulated negative opinions of each other during this tough time in society. However, the murder of George Floyd should not have been a political issue but rather a social justice concern. If we did not have unjust racial systems in place and the lingering legacy of slavery, this incident may not have even happened. Given the way in which racism has been woven into the United States, mixed with several years of ignoring the problem and not doing enough about it, race relations have drastically contributed to the current state of U.S. political affairs (Bremmer, 2021).

Another factor contributing to the political divide in our country is the toxic nature of capitalism. Capitalism has been the basis of the American economy since the second half of the 20th century and used to be an effective system. People immigrated to America to achieve “The American Dream.” They were able to start a new life here, open a business, and make money. Today, capitalism has created a large political and wealth gap. On the other hand, Canada is built on a socialist system rather than a capitalist system. They have more benefits and higher Federal income taxes, the highest bracket being 59% of your total income (Government of Canada, 2022). These higher taxes allow for substantial perks including social security protection with monthly retirement income, disability and survivors benefits, universal health care, workers compensation coverage, lower education costs encouraging education for all, maternity, paternity, and family benefits, and much more (Social Security Administration, 2004). As a result, people residing in Canada are on a more equal playing field when it comes to finances and opportunity and capitalism is rarely a political issue. In the U.S the capitalist, individualist, economic system can generate large amounts of individual wealth, yet it has adversely resulted in the average American worker having less of a social safety net, especially compared to other democratic countries such as Canada. Although capitalism has been in place for quite some time in the U.S, people are recently seeing less opportunities and increased inequality and financial barriers with it. As a result, when people feel that they are never given the chance to succeed, they become bitter and in turn blame the politics and the people of America. “Just a few decades ago, people who lost opportunity due to the capitalist system in America were rare and were mostly blue collar workers left behind by free trade” (Bremmer, 2021). But now, as artificial intelligence and automation are at the forefront, capitalism is affecting more Americans of all races, genders and socioeconomic classes.

In addition, politicians at the polar ends of the political spectrum such as Donald Trump, the epitome of a capitalist, and Bernie Sanders, who could be considered a socialist, created an even greater divide among the people of the United States. When Donald Trump was the Republican president from the years 2018-2022, he enhanced our capitalist society. He created a greater divide by giving tax breaks to big corporations and the wealthy rather than giving benefits to middle class and lower income families. Trump cut corporate tax to a flat rate of 21% versus the previous bracketed system of 15%-31% in order to encourage corporations. In 2019, ​​”H&R Block reports that the average tax cut was approximately $1,200, based on the returns the company processed for 2018” (Floyd, 2022). In 2017, Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act which instituted permanent tax cuts to corporate profits, investment income, estate tax, and more. As a result of lower taxes, the government has less ability to provide much needed services to the middle/lower class, creating a toxic capitalist environment in the U.S. In addition, tax deductions such as mortgage, state and local, child, and medical expenses were increased allowing the wealthy to pay less taxes and adversely affecting the less fortunate. Trump’s tax reforms cut corporate taxes permanently and individual taxes temporarily. The highest earners were expected to benefit most from the law, while the lowest earners were believed to pay more in taxes once most individual tax provisions are set to expire after 2025 (Floyd, 2022). This law gave more opportunities to the wealthy and less to the poor which created a greater wealth divide and in turn a greater political divide. This wealth divide will increase once the individual tax cuts expire in 2025 and as a result, increase the political divide unless a change is made. However, just as race should be a social issue instead of a political issue, so should capitalism.

Finally, the biased media system we have in the United States of America plays a large part in the political divide of our country. Certain media platforms, whether it be the news, movies, television shows, or social media, push their political opinions and as a result, we do not have any form of unbiased media to follow in America. If you watch Fox News, you are listening to Republican news reporters push their agenda. On the flip side, if you tune in to CNN, their reports are skewed in the opposite direction. As a result, people often only pay attention to the media channel that aligns with their political views and everyone is ill informed. News and media should be bipartisan and informative on current events rather than pushing political opinions on their viewers. In Canada, the media tends to be moderate, each news producer is solely reporting the facts instead of presenting their skewed political opinion. CBC which stands for Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is funded by the Canadian government, yet is completely politically independent. In Canada, there are right wing and left wing commentators working at the same network and reporting on the same issues side by side, which is a rarity in the United States. In addition, the social media platforms and the algorithms they use to reach certain groups of people are directly regulated by the government‘s C-10 bill. This bill is meant to revise the Broadcasting Act to account for the increased prominence of internet video and digital media by adding regulations to prevent social media platforms from using specific algorithms to promote extremist and misleading content (Government of Canada, 2021). Algorithms on social media platforms are implemented by the creators in order to capture more ad revenues and attention, often achieved by promoting extremist and misleading political content resulting in citizens being misinformed on important issues (Bremmer, 2021). In the U.S.A., regulations of the private sector are not as stringent when compared to Canada where tech platforms face more government regulation and are required to take responsibility for the content they post. If the United States places more regulations on media platforms, they will post less politically polarized content . and as a result our society will be less divided.

In order to combat the great political divide we are currently facing in America, we need to change the way we view the long lasting legacy of race, capitalism, and our broken media system. In addition, we need to put politics aside in conversation and not judge someone based on their ideology of “democrat” or “republican.” Why can’t we all just be titled as “American” and why can’t people be moderate? We need to take Canada’s democracy as an example and not let politics split us apart. As Ian Bremmer, a writer for the New York Times wrote, “Joe Biden faces numerous challenges when he takes office. And while tackling the pandemic may be his most immediate challenge, it isn’t his most daunting. Vaccines can end pandemics after all, but we don’t have a vaccine for our political divisions” (Bremmer, 2021).

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