The Orion Online

Issue date: 11/12/08 Section: Opinion

Media Credit: Chad Lewis [Click to enlarge]

[Click to enlarge]

While the Republican nominee for president made headlines as a self-dubbed "maverick" who reached "across the aisles" historically, red states and districts went blue this election cycle.

And even though moderates have favored the Democratic candidate in each of the past five elections, President-elect Barack Obama gained support of more voters in the ideological "middle" than John Kerry and Al Gore, according to a recent Pew Research Center poll. Those people in the middle need to suck it up and pick a side. Being informed doesn't even matter anymore.

To make matters worse, even those who have manned up and chosen an ideological pivot committed treason this election: A Nov. 2 Gallup Poll showed that Obama was the preferred candidate of at least 10 percent of Republican voters.

Can we really have it both ways? Absolutely not.

Sitting in class, days before the election, a professor began talking about partisanism. She argued that being truly bipartisan is impossible, because in order to do so, a part of your beliefs must be given to the other side in a compromise. This negates your loyalty, which thereby discredits your ideologies as a whole.

It was a 9:30 a.m. class, so in a bit of a daze, I attempted to process the words that were making their way to my brain. All these years, I thought two sides could reach a mutual agreement, even if they disagreed with each other. Wrong.

Some may point to the outcome of the presidential election as proof of bipartisan possibilities. But they're misinformed. They're probably the same people who think diplomacy works better than bombs - and everyone knows that's inaccurate.

When people look for news sources to tell them what's important, they rely on pundits: Nearly half of all Americans turn to the journalistic gems - also known as the 24-hour cable news networks - for their information, a Pew Research poll reported. Break those numbers down, and you'll see that the public is highly divided.

Among those who name Fox News Channel as their main source for campaign news, 52 percent are Republicans and only 17 percent are Democrats, the poll reported. In contrast, among those who rely on MSNBC for their campaign news, 50 percent are Democrats and only 11 percent are Republicans. And when it comes to media partisanism, channel surfing is not an option.

Mimicking the coverage that occurs on these channels, we gravitate toward news sources that tell us what we want to hear - it validates our own opinions and shields us from having to endure the nauseating experience of views that conflict with our own.

Moreover, the quaint notion that voters could somehow be united and that opposing politicians could somehow work together is inefficient. In fact, the blueprint of our governmental system practically begs for two-party bickering. Not only does it allow us the guilty pleasure of watching our politicians battle it out Jerry Springer-style - filibusters are verbal bitch slaps - but it also gives us the ability to blindly follow a set ideology.

So, when tempted to walk across the aisle, make sure you look both ways before crossing. It could get dangerous.

Megan can be reached at
opinioneditor@theorion.com

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