By LINDSEY SCHIBELHUT, Staff Reporter.
Why is Washington D.C. so divided? Will it ever change? These are some questions which were discussed at the Brown Bag series: Polarized Politics, on Feb. 12. Associate professor of political science, Dr. Robert Moore, went over how congress has polarized and what’s caused it to increase over the decades.
“You need to blame political scientists for the current polarization in congress,” says Moore.
Moore discussed that in 1950 The American Political Science Review would publish its findings on the divide in Washington. The committee stated, “It is dangerous to drift without a party system that helps the nation set a general course of policy for the government as a whole.” They also complained about the two political parties being “far too similar” and that the voters “do not have a choice.” Moore also spoke about two influential political scientists, Poole and Rosenthal, who have done research on congress members to give insight into their voting history.
“They have gone back through American history and looked at every member of congress in every contested vote in the history of the U.S. congress and based on their voting patterns they are able to give an ideological score to every member and trace their ideological change over the years,” Moore says.
Delta student Angelo Kapp thinks change could come to Washington. “It has to start with the people and we have to educate them more, people can’t just sit by and let others take care of them, or else nothing will change.”
Moore thinks polarization is causing us to develop, “into a nation where it’s not that I just think you have the wrong idea, or a bad idea, or I like my ideas better. No, you’re evil, you’re bad for the country, you are a danger. That’s disturbing to start seeing data like that.”
According to Moore, the populace has had a growing interest in social issues over the years, between secular and religious voters. However, social issues have not “increased voting numbers” says Moore, but it has “increased their activism in campaigns.”
Moore wants people to understand that the problem in Washington D.C. is a bipartisan one.
“Both sides are contributing to the problem,” says Moore. “It will take voters participating and demanding cooperation.”
Regarding whether or not things will change, Moore says, “It’s turned into the new normal, and nothing suggests to me that it’s going to stop anytime soon.”
