How to Tackle American Polarization

The US political climate in the status quo is getting more and more polarized per day, and the heightened extremism has resulted in negative consequences for the American people. The effects of extremism, mass media, fundamental ideological differences, misinformation, and the system itself have resulted in mutual distrust and a divisive, corrupt, and messy system.

Efforts and solutions that exist and have been attempted before have, for the large part, failed. Most are not drastic enough to enact change and fail to address the root causes that originate in the campaign system and media itself. Others are heavily partisan and only make the problem worse. Every other attempt has been small-scale and is either impossible or not being attempted in today's political climate.

Three Steps to Address Polarization

The first steps to address polarization and its root causes, which are structural and entrenched in the political system and campaign culture itself, are three-fold. The steps are to enact bipartisan legislation, combat misinformation and extremism, and enact social and structural reform. These three steps must be implemented simultaneously and on both a national and local level.

### 1. Bipartisan Legislation

Bipartisan legislation incentivizes and shows inter-party unity. It demonstrates that despite differences and disagreements and harsh rhetoric, politicians across the spectrum can agree and do what is best for the country. Bipartisan legislation prevents most delays in the Senate and the House and enacts changes that are best for the overall society.

This will also likely increase the amount of positive media coverage, as bipartisan movements are encouraging and represent a less divisive government. Empirical examples show that both Republicans and Democrats agree on areas such as criminal justice reform, education, the environment, health and vaccine diplomacy, human rights, and access to broader democratic ideals.

### 2. Combat Extremism and Mass Media Misinformation

The second facet of addressing polarization is to combat extremism and mass media misinformation. These problems cause heavy mistrust and increase partisanship. Federal and local governments working in unison to regulate the use of media, hold platforms accountable, and increase media literacy nationwide will attack the catalyst and root cause of polarization.

This would also be a big, bipartisan, and critical step to combat extremism and the negative effects of media on the electoral process. Critics may argue that this infringes on first amendment rights, but this is a fundamental misunderstanding of how the constitution works. Since social media apps are private entities and the regulation would be with public interest in mind, it is a common democratic practice and doesn't infringe on an individual's first amendment right of free speech.

### 3. Social and Structural Reforms

The third and final facet of preventing a government perceived as divisive, corrupt, and messy is to enact social and structural reforms that trickle down and prevent polarization from spreading. Social welfare, such as redistributing money from the rich to the poor, may decrease the likelihood of violent populist and extremist movements to form and distort the democratic world as we see it.

Structural reforms within the political system itself, such as campaign finance reform, will abolish the mutual distrust between parties and corruption within the government.

Conclusion

Addressing polarization in the United States will be a long path, but I believe that these three steps, if completed simultaneously, can enact change in the structure of the US political system and the negative perception of that very political climate.