Why Don’t We Protest Locally for Unity Instead of Division? (Opinion)

Over this weekend, we witnessed national protests against Donald Trump, as well as a military parade in honor of flag day, the Army’s 250th birthday, and Trump’s birthday. And while all of the organizers of the associated events will tout them as successes as they managed to draw in their own target demographic to attend, I ultimately fear that these events were failures in that they divided the country more than united it. These events were not olive branches towards those with differing opinions, but simply reinforcing existing beliefs and creating echo chambers. I challenge both sides, Democrat and Republican, to fix that.

I was not at all surprised that there was a violent incident associated with the local protest, just like I wasn’t surprised there were incidents all across the country. There are people who will attend these protests with the sole purpose of causing problems, and no matter how much you push for a peaceful event, somebody is probably going to try and ruin it – maybe from the opposing side, maybe from your own.

Here’s some interesting facts. There are an even number of Republicans and Democrats in the United States. No protest, no march, no military parade is going to change that. And this affiliation trend might change within a percentage or two over time, but has mostly stayed very even ratio between Republican and Democrat for the past 5 years. But even more interesting is that since 2020, the percentage of voters who refuse to identify with either party has increased.

Affiliation – 2024	Percentage of United States
Republican	28%
Democrat	28%
Independent	43%

Source: Gallup 2024 Data

And now here’s some more interesting facts. As of May of this year, only 38% of the country believes the country is going in the right direction, up from 20% in January of this year. There appears to be, based upon this data combined with data on satisfaction, a negative correlation in that the stronger the imbalance between Democrats and Republicans, the lower the satisfaction with the country. So we should be doing really good right now looking at those trends. So what’s going wrong?

Likely a better indicator of why there’s significant dissatisfaction with the country, is the increase in independents. An even stronger negative correlation exists with the number of independents, showing that the higher number of independents, the lower the satisfaction with the country. In 2023 and 2024, we witnessed two consecutive years of voters being dissatisfied with both parties, and identifying as independents.

Why would this be? Perhaps, just perhaps, voters are tired of the incessant drivel of “us vs them”, and refuse to play the game anymore. Voters are increasingly identifying as independents, and likely only registering as a member of a political party so that they can vote in closed primary elections, such as those which take place in Maryland. I should know, I’m one of these voters who identify as an independent, and am only registered with a political party in order to gain access to primary elections. Personally, I’m absolutely tired of both Democrats and Republicans “villainizing” each other and their elected leaders. And this villainizing has resulted in the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, and quite possibly the assassination of a Minnesota lawmaker.

I have a challenge for local Democrats and Republicans. Hold a rally, together, and hold this rally without any signs or clothing that can possibly identify your political party or who you voted for. Hold this rally in the name of local and national unity, not in the name of any political cause, but only with the goal of finding common ground, breaking bread with your neighbor, and most importantly, leave all negativity behind. We have a lot more in common with our neighbors than we realize, even when we’re registered for different political parties. When did we forget this along the way?

Will this work? I don’t know. But I have to imagine it’s a lot more effective at fixing things than simply waving signs for/against politicians, because let’s be perfectly honest, you’re not going to change anyone’s opinion on a politician by waving a sign about them. It’s going to take real discussion about policies, actions, and plans, to help others even see your side. And yes, Republicans and Democrats, I’m talking to both of you, because violence is never acceptable, and I’ve seen too much of it from both of you nationally over the past few days.

The country is a powder keg right now. And we can’t fix that nationally, but we can try to mend it locally.

Opinion article by Ken Buckler, President and Editor of Radio Free Hub City. All opinions are his own, and do not reflect those of our clients or sponsors.

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