Desmond Colby

Period 4

DBQ
The US Constitution was built by people with different opinions in order to enable
conflict to be resolved through the political process. Conflict in public opinion is not an issue
when citizens are engaged with people who have opposing views. People have been selfsegregating themselves by living in places where only citizens with similar views live. If citizens
only see one side of an argument they become increasingly polarized. Data suggests that
polarized citizens are less likely to engage in constructive political debate. The trend towards
polarized self-segregation has created an environment where ideological differences have been
more of a problem than they used to be.
CNN found in a.post presidential election exit poll that 56 percent of people living in
urban areas voted for Democrat John Kerry, while 44 percent voted for Republican George W.
Bush. In the 1996 election the data draws the same conclusion, 58 percent of people living in
urban areas voted democratically and 35 percent voted republican. (D10) The conclusion that can
be drawn from this data is that where a citizen lives affects how they will vote and their
ideologies. People have begun to self-segregate themselves by choosing to live in a certain area.
Bill Bishop in 2008 wrote that, And we are living in with these consequences of selfsegregation which has made our country so polarized, ideologically inbred, that people dont
know and cant understand those who live just a few miles away. (D3) What Bishop is
explaining is that because Americans have begun to move to areas with people who share their
views they have begun to only see one side of an argument. When citizens understand one
particular view they are unable to comprehend the other side of public ideology. This causes

ideological differences to become a significant issue since if people cannot understand the other
side of an argument they certainly cannot work with the other side towards solutions. It is not
simply seeing one side of an argument becoming so polarized that you cannot work with
someone of opposite opinion. James Q. Wilson wrote in an article, The intensity of political
divisions in twenty-first-century America is a major problem, and a divided America encourages
our enemies, disheartens our allies and saps our resolve- potentially to fatal effect. The degree
to which citizens have become so socially unaware has had a big effect on the ability of political
ideology to not cause problems. The more polarized peoples views are, the more issues it
causes.
The US constitution was founded on the principle of conflict. When a person or group
does not like a policy or the way things are being run they had the right, the duty to challenge the
government and fought for what they believed to be just. In an article by Richard Stengel he
says, Conflict is at the core of our politics, and the constitution is designed to manage it. (D8)
Stengel is completely right about this, conflict is sometimes a good thing. However, conflict is
only good when it is able to be resolved. Stengel most likely has this point of view because he is
someone who is able to compromise on his values. Most US citizens cannot. Today people are
more polarized about their ideology than ever before. In a study done by Pew Research the group
found that throughout 2008 thirty-seven percent described themselves as politically conservative
and twenty-one percent said they were liberal. In 2012 thirty-six percent said they were
politically conservative and twenty-two percent said they were liberal. This is an insignificant
change. The data shows that people have not changed their ideology. This is due to people selfsegregating themselves. Difference in ideology therefore becomes an issue because people are
unable to see the other side of an argument. Finally, in a comic strip done by David Horsey it

shows how people in Red America and Blue America do the same things just differently. In one
box there is a person in a Blue state recycling and a person in a Red state re-using a part of an old
car. This shows a good point that people in both parts of the country are alike in many ways but
what draws us apart is how we think, our ideology. If citizens ideologies were the same than
they would not have the issue of thinking poorly of the other group and therefore get nothing
done. Horsey most likely drew this to show citizens that we are alike and if we think alike we
will manage to get much more done.
Americans have begun to self-segregate themselves to areas where people with similar
ideologies live. By doing so, they are only seeing one side of an argument and are therefore
becoming polarized. An additional document that would help to prove this point would be a
study showing examples of how who someone lives with affects their views. If this data would
be able to be used it would help provide examples of polarization. When citizens become so
polarized with one party they are no longer able to work with anyone else or understand others
opinions. If people are unable to work with others, as they have become to in the 21st century,
then nothing will be able to get done. Political ideologies have become a huge problem in the
United States to the increased number of people self-segregating themselves.