When people vote, they expect their voices to be heard. Politicians are elected to ensure that we are represented; this does not always happen. Politicians have their motives, and their ideas can be extreme. When politicians act like this, they can be perceived as either too far left or too far right. However, if a politician were to act more moderate, you'd get bipartisanship: a system involving the agreement or cooperation of two political parties that usually oppose each other's policies (Oxford Dictionary). And support it. Let's examine bipartisanship in America between the Democrats and Republicans. 

Many Americans consider themselves moderate, so it only makes sense that politicians and laws should reflect that. Not only would it stop gridlock in congress, but politicians would be freed up to make decisions that affect the country in a meaningful way. By having a more moderate government, more people would feel interested in the government and would likely support it more than the extreme ideologies of the left and right.

I am not alone in these thoughts. Some point to foreign policy, where bipartisan laws have been some of the most successful. Dr. Celia Paris at Loyola University wanted to hear what the American people wanted. In her survey, she found that 68% of those polled thought politicians should cooperate across party lines. Almost two-thirds of those asked said that politicians need to compromise to solve American issues. That same study found that 93% of those surveyed agreed that politicians need to be more civil to one another. To reflect this, bipartisan bills in congress had 11% more approval from voters than partisan bills.

When politicians vote bipartisan, they are called weak by radical new sites like Fox News or CBC. However, the opposite is true. Politicians would be perceived as open-minded and pursuing the country's best interests.

Even world governments are starting to adopt bipartisan policies, such as Australia. The Australian defence commission proposed a bipartisan plan because, in a bipartisan system, it is easier to make economic decisions and open up the government to work with any businesses and not just those with radical ideas.

Bipartisanship is more effective than our current partisan system. However, there have still been problems, with opponents claiming that bipartisanship has led to some of the worst discrimination and hate crimes in history, such as prohibiting the right to vote for African-Americans, arresting Japanese-Americans during WW2, and after 9/11 arresting Muslims in America with no charges. However, they forgot that politicians made these decisions at times of crisis and uncertainty when the government was being pressured into decisions by the people, needing to feel some control.

Bipartisanship is beneficial because, unlike some think, bipartisanship is merely offering to find a compromise between parties, not merging the two. Fortunately, politicians are starting to reflect these sentiments, with politicians such as Obama, Biden and McCain. In a democracy, a government's job is to remember how the people want their country to be run. And modern Americans want their government to be moderate instead of clinging to old ideas that haven't been relevant since the 90s.

Bipartisanship is needed to fix the flaws in America. If the current U.S. Congress continues, then compromise needs to be made mainstream in American politics. If we want America to be the shining beacon of democracy that it claims to be, then having politicians putting their interests before the nation's interests cannot stand.