Conflictual or Consensual?

                 Is American Political Culture                    Conflictual or Consensual?

American political culture in today's day is very much conflictual. This means that different groups or subcultures clash with opposing beliefs or values, often causing conflict. In my opinion, recent politics have involved more conflicting opinions, protesting, debating, and rising tensions then other time periods.

One example of how American political culture is conflictual is the recent debate over minimum wage. President Obama and democrats wanted minimum wage to be raised, but republicans strongly disagreed. On Live CNN, the topic was debated amongst governors. One democratic governor argued that the rate of minimum wage should be raised in order to assist struggling families. He stressed that the majority of people earning minimum wage are trying to support a family, and need enough money to do so. However, republican governors disagreed with this. They argued that raising minimum wage will only result in employers hiring less people, therefore increasing the unemployment rate. During this debate, all parties were yelling at each other and cutting each other of in a way that was very uncivil. This shows how our political culture is conflictual, and people with different political views often cannot discuss politics with tension forming therefore resulting in conflict. It is mainly the "red" and "blue" states who tend to clash. This is because each group has very different opinions and values than the other.

In One Nation, Slightly Divisible David Brooks creates stereotypes for people that live in "red" and in "blue" states. One of the most important discrepancies Brooks explains is that red states are humble and don't care for elites, while blue states are very much elite, as well as judgy and rude. As a result of these incredibly differing characteristics and contradicting opinions, red state citizens and blue state citizens don't often and can become involved in conflict with each other.

The above graphic shows a very clear line splitting red from blue. This represents the distinct characteristics of both red states and blue states. Each side's point of view is very determined and stubborn, which is why the two are conflictual. They can't discuss politics without tensions rising and a conflict occuring.