The United States is dying from a plague of hate. The recent package bombs sent to various Democrats by a devout Republican is one of the many signs we keep ignoring.

The same hate runs through every protest, election season and whatever else is politically driven. We saw it in Brett Kavanaugh’s hearing when he lost his cool, and in the people who threatened him, his family and Christine Blasey Ford and her family.

This hate goes back to the Ferguson unrest and the racial bias that fueled it. Even further, it stems back to the Civil Rights movement when the KKK was at large and extremely violent.

We see traces of this civil unrest in our country still today. Whether it be police brutality, violence against women, the deep-rooted racism of our country or the conversations we have amongst ourselves.

When politics come up, people are usually asked what party they affiliate with. If you were to reveal you’re politically affiliated with a political party outside of your social groups, you would most likely be scolded.

Most of us have been faced with a situation like this. But why should it matter?

What are our goals when we vote or support a political candidate? Hopefully it is to better our country. There is nothing wrong with wanting things to be better since our country is all kinds of messed up.

But we can’t get caught up in the Republican vs Democrat debate. There will not be a collective agreement on how to make our country great, and we have to accept that. Too many times have we been caught up in the arguments where we try to pin problems on a single party.

Each party has their faults, especially the fault of buying into the us vs them mentality. The Democrats blame the Republicans for ruining the country and vice versa. What good does this do us?

We start to get blinded by the rhetoric of the us vs. them mentality. Too much truth is lost when we are blinded by a hate like this and we begin to act as if it is one party in the wrong. Each party can look at their own political leaders and see much corruption.

When we let this hateful us vs them rhetoric spiral out of control people begin to do terrible things like send bombs in packages. We also dismiss such terrorist acts by acting like it’s a scheme made up by an opposing political party.

So we can’t feed into this debate so full of hate. We all are flawed, especially our political leaders. We can’t like someone just for being Democrat, and we can’t hate Republicans for just being Republicans. This isn’t us versus them, or Republicans versus Democrats. This is a changing country, and we need to work together to get it on the right path.

Don’t make assumptions based on the actions of radicals or the corrupt politicians.

It’s not us vs them. It’s everyone having an opinion and wanting things to get better. It starts by not feeding into the hateful rhetoric so common amongst us all and driven by many political leaders trying to get your vote.