A Quick Look at the American Situation

Has America always been this split down the middle? Democrats versus Republicans? Has this country always been in the middle of a political tug-of-war? Or is just the rise in awareness that radio, television, and the internet has brought has now opened our eyes? I really do not believe that the political system was every more cutthroat then it is today. Sure, a person can say that the election will be decided by who has the most money to run commercials. Or that the person who can run the best smear campaign will win. Then there are of course those few that believe that there is nothing wrong with the democratic system (notice the small D people) we have today. Even if this is all just a matter of being more aware to a problem that has always existed, the fact of the matter is that there is something terribly wrong with the way politics are played in America today. There is a president with a 35% approval rating. There is Vietnam-esque war occurring. People are looking forward more to the future election than fixing the problems that we have today. And that goes for citizens and politicians alike. In this I do not want to play the blame game. That is for a different discussion altogether. But what doesn't change is the fact that there really is something bad going on right now. Sure, all the media will hype it up, it's their job. Going on about Orwellian society, dictatorship government, end of the world scenarios. What the media is telling us is an overworked, overplayed, and overemphasized version of what really is happening. America won't breed the next Hitler, that's for sure. But what we can be sure of is that what is happening to America right now will affect it for the years to come. And I can't see it being a very good future in its present state. I understand that I may have deviated a bit between numerous various topics. Hence the title. Look for (possible?) elaborations on any one of these topics in the (far?) distant future.