In the past 50 years, the monolith of the Republican Party has begun to slowly deteriorate as members of the party change their long-held views. While ideological shifts are inevitable, many of these changes have reprehensibly changed the foundation of the party, shifting them from a once-renowned political organization to an extremist and traditionalist group fueled by hatred of those who they consider “other.”

Many believe this shift began with former President Richard Nixon and his “Southern strategy.”

Nixon’s Southern strategy sought to appeal to Southern conservative voters by subtly endorsing racial discrimination and the disenfranchisement of Black voters. It also promoted other conservative views on immigration, social welfare programs and states’ rights directly.

After sowing the seed that was the Southern strategy in the Republican Party, there was a gradual transition to where we are today: a party stricken with extremism, hatred for the other side of the aisle and discriminatory policies toward people who are often left forgotten in the margins of society.

As the Republican Party has changed drastically as of recent, it is also important to remember what the Republican Party used to stand for.

Ideals such as respect for law and order, crime prevention strategies and an emphasis on a strong military have all been flushed down the drain as the party fuels itself on bigotry facilitated by the party’s overbearing leaders.

These leaders have even removed the trust of their followers from the institutions meant to keep justice and order in the United States, such as the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency.

Leaders of the Republican Party have also begun to capitalize on the instability of the group, marking the beginning of the end for the political superpower.

Many, such as former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, believe that former President Donald Trump began to reap what Nixon sowed. By weaponizing the unstable nature of the Republican Party, Trump began to dismantle the entire party from the inside.

From 2016 on, Republican officials have been expected to reflect these extreme and traditionalist views and are chastised by other members of their party if they do not meet this standard of extremity.

I don’t intend to say that it’s not okay to be a Republican in today’s society. On the contrary, I believe having people with diverse ideological beliefs is of great benefit and importance to our democratic process.

What I am saying, though, is that the current stances and state of the Republican Party do not align with what they were previously constructed to be, and the current stances of the party contribute to the polarizing nature of the group and public perception of them.

By including vast groups of people with different core beliefs, experiences and stances on issues in our democratic processes, we can further collaborate to determine the best course of action when faced with challenges and setbacks.

It is increasingly observable in today’s government that this collaborative process is not happening and can be seen as the cause of the lack of progress made by our government in general.

For instance, because our legislators could not agree on a spending bill in 2019, we were thrown into a government shutdown that lasted over a month — the longest shutdown in American history.

The political climate has evolved from a space for collaboration to an all-out warzone, which is further facilitated by those who are elected into office.

An often-noted example of this is former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who often resorted to an incendiary political strategy that involved villainizing the opposing political party. He often used words such as “traitors,” “sick” and “shallow” to portray the other side.

This portrayal of the “others” in a negative light further allows people to separate themselves from other people based on something as futile as their political ideologies.

As you can see, this poses a major problem for our government and democratic process. As young voters, we will directly inherit the inhibitions of the Republican Party we consume in our youth.

However, this also means that we hold the power to remove ourselves from the notions and strategies of the past.

As a collective, we must work together, not only to remove the Republican Party from the polarizing grip of the Southern strategy but also to eradicate the harmful pre-conceived notions of what a Republican is.

By approaching these problems with an open mind and a willingness to work together toward a better future, we can change our political system for the better.