Will we ever find common ground?

For years, I have seen random infographics come across my Facebook feed showing me the growing political divide. It was typically something that shocked me, but I never really gave it much thought after I scrolled past it. But recently, I’ve begun to wonder more — will this political divide that we have created continue to grow? Or is there hope that we can bridge the gap and actually get some work done around here?

So what sparked this curiosity in my mind? A combination of lessons that I have learned as a student leader, some YouTube videos from Professor Jonathan Haidt, and a new book called The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek. Now I’m sure you’re wondering how the heck these three things go together — and it’s not obvious until you dive into the material at hand.

I really don’t have the space (or time) to talk about this in detail, but let me do my best to sum it up as succinctly as possible. I have been a part of multiple organizations throughout my college career, each with different leaders, members, and challenges. Professor Haidt talks about the political divide, common problems, and how to bring us together. The Infinite Game sheds light on the key challenges in leadership and what leaders must do to advance their cause, bring a team together, and help their organization ultimately survive. Together, this shows me why we have come to the point in society where our leaders no longer know how to work together and solve problems for the benefit of the people they serve, on both local and national levels. But, there is hope.

Here at Stevens, we join clubs in which we have interests, and we seek to advance a common cause. We share the same ideals and values, come together to celebrate what we are passionate about, and share it with our community. The club system here, and probably at any university, is a great model for the way we should want our leaders acting and working together. Now on a national political scale, we see the exact opposite. People who run for national office claim to run to unite us and help the people, but at the end of the day, they are there only to advance their own interests. These interests can be either of their political party or personal power and monetary gain.

We cannot trust our leaders to go and advance the causes we believe in because they are afraid to step out of line and be courageous leaders. They do not allow us to trust them to do the jobs we have sent them to do, and we can never be certain that any of them will have our backs if the choice comes down to us or them.

I know I’m writing in a more anecdotal style here, but when you think about the political divide, it has less and less to do with our beliefs and more to do with our leaders. Even here on campus, the College Republicans and College Democrats had a debate in which they found a lot of common ground. Why can’t our national leaders do the same?

I believe there is hope. I think we will have at least another four years of this divide. But, if one of two things are to happen, I think we may have the chance to heal as a nation. Either Trump is removed from office and the Republican Party needs to present a new leader, or we need a courageous leader to run for president in four years. There would be one candidate who I could see on the Democratic side, but she has no shot (as of now). I think there are a few big names that we will hear in three years announcing runs for President that will take this nation by storm and have the chance to save our Republic.