Divisive political tactics distract constituents from the problems at hand
9/2/21 by Akshay Ma Kumar
In our current political society, it has become an automatic reaction to be designated to one political ideology when we advocate for changes in our government. This is a problem shared by all participants in our political system, regardless of political standing. These labels are assigned to us by political media, such as anarcho-capitalist, Marxist, fascist, socialist, et cetera, but do not completely conform with our own political standing, preventing us from supporting certain policies due to the political connotation assigned with it. The constant labeling has led to a distinct demarcation between groups of people and a severe polarization of our political system preventing any real change. The major parties in the country capitalize on this, halting real action and passing their own personal agendas.
The polarization of our political environment began back in the 1970s, around the time that also birthed Reaganomics, a term referring to the economic policies of Ronald Reagan. Graphics on the views of Congress members in 1973 from the Pew Research Center show a large amount of overlapping views between both parties, but by 2011, there was absolutely none, meaning “the most conservative Democrat and the most liberal Republican” allegedly have no overlap at all. Almost 93 percent of roll call votes can be expected to be based solely on political ideology.
This divide in Congress seems to be pushed even further. The GOP and right-leaning media outlets have been insistent that many of the policies presented by the left are communist, Marxist, socialist or a hybrid of the three. They attempt to demonize these political ideologies daily on popular TV news and social media apps like Facebook. In 2019, Fox News published an article labeled “How to get your child to just say no to socialism,” presenting another piece of U.S. propaganda trying to demonize a broad concept of socialism.
The popular Green New Deal, a series of proposals including a 2019 bill in the House of Representatives, presented by the Democrats has brought upon some of these similar remarks. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a young Latina New York City Democrat who is a collaborator on the bill, has been a constant target for her vocal support for taxing the rich, free college, right to housing and other liberal plans for the public. In fact, Fox News had mentioned Ocasio-Cortez’s name over 3,100 times in a span of six weeks back in 2019. Media outlets and politicians alike have been painting AOC as a threat to American democracy. At former President Donald Trump’s first post-presidency rally, U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a prominent GOP Congresswoman, went on to call Ocasio-Cortez “the little communist from New York City,” inciting crowd chants to “lock her up.” This attack on political enemies is a trick seen too often throughout our history.
In the 1950s, the Red Scare spawned McCarthyism, which would go on to disrupt or destroy people’s livelihoods simply due to alleged communist sympathies. During J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI career, these tactics were used to brand any civil rights demonstrations led by Martin Luther King Jr. to be a spread of communist sentiment, with Hoover having “covertly worked to intimidate and discredit the civil rights leader,” according to history.com. These are effective methods to prevent collective actions for change. By vilifying a group and assigning it a vague label, it becomes easier to divide people.
Marjorie Taylor Greene is just one of the many figures pushing this type of narrative. The GOP attack on the Green New Deal has been relentless. This is despite the fact that most Americans consider the government to have done too little in the fight against climate change, with more than 60 percent of adults supporting several approaches in Biden’s infrastructure bill to address climate change. The Green New Deal itself would even create jobs in multiple sectors with a high-paid, unionized force. There seems to be desires by the GOP to maintain a political divide, as they do not wish to work on majority goals. To avoid fulfilling the wishes of their fellow people, the GOP have created a fictional boogeyman, named it socialism and began using it as their scapegoat. Some Democrats now avoid being associated with this boogeyman as to not hurt their public image.
The expensive price tag on the Green New Deal is also a large point of criticism by the GOP, who claim that much of the government spending for the Green New Deal will act as a Trojan horse for socialist frameworks. However, large government projects are not at all uncommon, from the creation of the Panama Canal to the upkeep of the U.S. military — both examples of socialism. The website Compounding My Interests even states that “the military’s oversight of the [Panama Canal] project worked so well that some feared this would tip the [United States] toward socialism.” The GOP’s constant lookout for socialism and overspending is comical — perhaps they should take a look inward.
The GOP is responsible for several expensive socialist activities, including massive tax returns to billionaires and the gigantic military spending budget. Perhaps the GOP is less concerned about the price of the policy and more worried about possible plans by AOC on how to pay. According to Investopedia, AOC proposed a “60 percent to 70 percent [tax] on the very wealthy” to make them pay their fair share in taxes. Though this may seem severe, we can recall that when the economy was booming in the 1950s and 1960s, extremely wealthy Americans paid a “top income tax rate of 91 percent,” according to Americans for Tax Fairness. With the inclusion of tax loopholes and low tax rate on investment income, today’s average tax rate of the one-percenters is around 25.4 percent. People are more than willing to increase taxes on the wealthy. A crucial funding mechanism in Biden’s infrastructure plan was to increase corporate taxes, an idea that was supported by 63 percent of Americans.
Furthermore, 42 percent of adults view lessening economic inequality as a “top priority” according to Pew Research, as it increases people’s opportunities and reduces the wealthy’s political influence and access. These are all underlying challenges for all of us, attempting to put up illusions to prevent us from using our collective voice. Without our united demands and calls for change, our elected officials will ignore us as they try to fulfill their own agendas all while hiding behind a fake monster, cheating us from our society values.
There is a disconnection between our politicians and us, and the only way for us to combat them is with our voices and our actions. Instead of being chained to our political standing, we must contact our local, county and federal representatives. Try to truly learn if they are trying to push for what is in our best interest and hold them accountable to their actions. Without constant accountability, Congress will try to run amok. The smoke and mirrors have been set to divide us by vague terms. We should all be willing to disregard our label and act accordingly to the change we wish to see rather than allow history to assign us labels.
Akshay Ma Kumar is a senior majoring in economics.
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