Hatred. Anger. Arrogance. These words perfectly characterize the recent years of political strife in the United States, which has enabled ignorance in place of cooperation between parties. Our own members of Congress have been shooting our own country in the leg, throwing progress and cooperation to the wayside. Hyper-partisan politics between both Democrats and Republicans are ripping this country apart, and neither side is willing to reach across the aisle to fix the problem.

Partisan politics fail time and time again, and true fixes through legislation that would help the citizens are constantly being thrown away in place for political grudges. There are various examples where partisan politics have failed, and various culprits who make the problem worse.

The utter failure of the “repeal and replace” of the Affordable Care Act is exemplary for partisan politics failing in Congress. Motivated by the hatred for Obama-era legislation, a new bill was written between a group of 13 senators, without say from even one women from their own party. What would be the ramifications of this bill? According to Congressional Budget, the bill may have left 5 million people uninsured in 2018, and 22 million in 2026. Not surprisingly, the bill failed, being voted against by all Democrats and even some Republicans, and even both sides regretted the secretive nature of the writing of the bill.

While partisan efforts to impeach the president are not new to politics, there have been multiple efforts to impeach President Donald Trump. All attempts failed by a supermajority, with even Democrat Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi insisting that impeachment shouldn’t be introduced without evidence of crimes. These feeble attempts show that, instead of working with the president on disagreeable policies, some would rather avoid argument altogether through impeachment.

And politicians are not the sole root of the problem. The media has done plenty to promote and aggravate the divisiveness between the parties. The name-calling and petty arguments between politicians have been brought to light by the media through sensationalist headlines. We turn on Fox News to hear about “Crooked Hillary,” then we turn on the Daily Show and hear about “Cry-baby Trump.” Truth is, these emotional blows do nothing but deepen the chasm between parties.

Do I want there to be a compromise of all views, turning the U.S. Congress into an easily agreeable center? No, of course not. That would be a delusional campfire hand-holding idea. Debate over differing ideologies has always been an integral part of the democracy we so cherish. Differing ideologies is NOT the problem. Instead, it is the ignorant, stubborn characteristics of politicians who rather argue through ad hominem or just plain up ignore arguments from someone else.