Independent political parties are constantly being overshadowed

Politics.

It's one of the two topics that are jokingly referred to as the "don't talk about these" topics.

More and more, that somewhat lighthearted piece of advice seems to be holding up.

If you want to create division in a group of people, just bring up something like the war on terror, tax cuts for the rich or the inflating deficit.

You're likely to have about 48 percent of the people wholeheartedly believing one thing, 48 percent of the people staunchly trusting the opposite, and four percent that don't really care or hold a very different, non-opposites perspective.

Then you have the vicious, current political climate that you and I are constantly exposed to through various media types, from television news to internet blogs.

It doesn't seem to be dwindling, and it certainly doesn't seem as if it will be overhauled.

One word that pretty much sums up politics today, at least the way I see it, is division.

Never before have we seen such a split in the way people come about finding a solution for a pressing issue. Instead of looking over facts and circumstances with an open mind to find the best resolution for everybody involved, it seems politicians continue to "tow the party line."

By that I mean answers are based on what the parties strictly believe and want to perpetuate to the American public.

This is no way to arrive at a solution.

There are many different perspectives and a large variety of ways to think and approach a problem, so how can politicians attempt to fix anything by sticking to one of two ways or modes of thinking?

The answer, from my perspective, is that they can't.

Besides Republican and Democrat, there are countless other political affiliations that are not given their say or even acknowledged by the public.

While Independent has always been a mainstream option, candidates of this affiliation rarely ever make it past one or two percent of the vote when November comes.

Furthermore, we're given candidates for this affiliation, such as Ralph Nader, who did their best work with legislation years ago.

Nader continues to run for president every four years, even though he fails to create a booming support or large number of votes.

Our one mainstream alternative is slowly being starved out.

When it comes to non-mainstream political affiliation options, things get very vast.

From the up-and-coming Tea Party to the less-governmental Libertarian, the stalwart Constitution party to the somewhat mysterious Green party, there are countless different parties that do not get their fair share of air time through various media outlets (save for the recent explosion of the Tea Party).

I bet if more people were alerted to what these parties stand for and what they're trying to accomplish, we'd see a lot more support go from red-v.-blue to a more holistic, all-encompassing mindset.

I mean, isn't that our goal?

To bring together all ideas and viewpoints to arrive at a mutually acceptable solution?

This doesn't seem to be the trend that we are following today.

We can all remember the large division the George W. Bush presidency brought us, with some claiming Bush was handling things correctly and others claiming he had no idea what he was doing.

It really didn't seem as if anybody was dissecting individual issues with a pro-and-con mindset. The same thing is happening under the Barack Obama administration, with some saying President Obama is spending wildly and putting us in an irreversible debt and others saying he is enacting much needed programs and initiatives for America.

Also, the viciousness of attacks aimed at both of these presidents just seems to be increasing, as if either one isn't a human being worthy of respect and dignity.

When will we lay down our partisan politics in favor of our logical minds to enact smart solutions and answers to questions that continue to plague our society?

We all make up America whether you come from a red state or a blue state.

The only thing division brings to politics is a spirit of competitiveness against your fellow man, which only leads to bitterness, frustration and anger.

We shouldn't approach politics like a football game with whoever scores the most being the winner.

Whenever this happens, we lose camaraderie, we lose morale and we lose what makes America great.