As an international student, the Rose Café with Dr. Enns was very informative. My knowledge about the election process and general politics in the U.S was gleaned from the most recent, and unusual, election cycle.

A large part of the talk was spent on the polarisation of the voting population. As I’ve been told, this cycle, unlike others, saw greater divide and strife. The mud slinging at higher levels of the political sphere (Mainly between candidates), trickled down to the average voter, creating a general atmosphere of spite. Suddenly, party affiliation became an integral part of identities.

The polarisation between the two parties reached the point that there were caricatures of voters who supported either party: the racist Trump supporter or the elitist Clinton voter.

As someone who was sided with Clinton, I too was a part of this polarization. I still strongly believe that Trump’s presidency is awful, and can cause terrible harm to a great number of people. Moreover, another important issue that empowers that Trump presidency is the lack of bipartisanship.

Both the House of Representatives and the Senate is Republican, with an alt-right President in charge. It’s clear that the Democratic Party has only a small amount of influence the next four years. If anything, it’s a flaw in the system that it fails to ensure that there is a fair representation of both parties in the government. It’s hard for a system to progress if both halves continually work against each other.

It’s important to focus on ‘Zones of Acquiescence’ where both parties can work to the benefit of all people, and not marginalise any group of individuals. Right now, the protests are (And will continue to be) a powerful tool to ensure that the political discourse isn’t one-sided.