By Erica Vedeikis

In these turbulent times, I have been doing some research as to why we have multiple parties in government. Shouldn’t everyone’s goals be the same — to create a better world? What isn’t there just a single-party system? Or why shouldn’t everything just be non-partisan?

I believe our Founding Fathers figured out quickly that while our goals may ultimately be the same, there are multiple ways to get there. For example, the original U.S. parties — the Federalists and Anti-Federalists — fought against each other as to whether we should have a strong central government to stabilize the economy and maintain order or more focus on states’ rights with the fear that a powerful central government could infringe on individual liberties. They fought with each other, never with violence, but with discourse. If you can remember back to high school, you can remember the time of the Federalist papers. The Federalist Papers were a series of 85 essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay. They were published between 1787 and 1788 to promote ratification of the U.S. Constitution and explain its principles, advocating for a strong central government and a balanced system of checks and balances. With this discourse and debates, our original Americans were given open, honest lines of communication and when the U.S. arose with a solid Constitution, we had both a strong central government that regulated interstate commerce, conducting foreign affairs and maintaining national defense. This gave the states the power to regulate intrastate matters including education and local law enforcement. But that did not end partisan politics. Partisan politics means we have the means for deeper debates and discourse in determining how our country and states are governed. If we were left with a non-partisan world, there would be thousands of opinions and rarely would the good ones win out.

Fast forward to our current situation. Look to your neighbor on your left. Look to your neighbor on your right. Do you honestly think you are that different in what you believe? You agree about 75 percent of the same things. You want good schools. You want safe neighborhoods. You want good jobs. You want a better life for the next generation. Just like our founders, we want the same things. We just don’t agree on how to get there. If there was only one party, there would be only one solution and many people would become disenfranchised and disinterested in a better world. Why should we care if our opinions are never taken into consideration? This sounds more like tyranny than freedom. Our current system allows us the ability to use our votes to elect officials to represent us (remember, this is a constitutional republic, not a true democracy) that align with our beliefs and thought processes. It allows us some control over how our lives are run. And when someone questions why partisan government and why not non-partisan government, think about a group of kids on a playground that have been given a ball. How many different ways can that ball be used? Basketball, dodgeball, toss, kickball, baseball, football, hot potato and so many more. Imagine the stubbornness of a kid. Don’t we even have idioms such as “take my ball and go home” when someone doesn’t get their way?

Isn’t it better to have some organization with just a few options that can be voted on and a majority rules? This is a ball best for kickball or dodgeball. Which do you want to play? To me, that just makes common sense.

For these reasons, our system is designed to have primaries and caucuses before a general election. Each party puts forth all the candidates that are interested in being your leadership.

You, as the citizen, have the ability to pick the one that best represents you to run in the general election. And, if your candidate is not the chosen candidate to run in the general election, you are not mandated to vote for that candidate and every other party candidate on that ticket.

Because just like you and your neighbors, not everyone in the same party agree exactly on the path to get to where we want to go.

Realize you have something a large majority of this world does not have. You have the freedom to think for yourself. You have the freedom to do actual research on candidates and their stances. You the have the freedom to ignore propaganda and dig into the actual truth. You then have the freedom to walk into a voting location, get your ballot, and in the privacy of your own ballot booth, choose the people you want representing you and your beliefs. You have the freedom to disagree with your neighbors. You have the freedom to disagree with your representation. Your disagreements are also protected by both a federal and state constitution. You just do not have the freedom to make these disagreements physical or violent. As long as you have a voice, in this country, violence is never the answer. But, as Benjamin Franklin put it, you have a Republic, as long as you can keep it.