At best, “bipartisanship” seems to be nothing but an empty promise in America. In a two-party system like the one in the United States, bipartisanship means a willingness to compromise to reach an agreeable solution on key political issues. But lately, we haven’t seen much of this from our government.

So the question is: Why are we seeing so much failure when it comes to compromise among this country’s leaders? Is the future of bipartisanship dismal, or can Americans still work to ensure we reach the best solutions for everyone?

These are all questions I have when considering bipartisanship and whether or not we can achieve it. In the U.S, it’s clear that our political leaders have problems with this. Bipartisanship appears to work in theory, but we rarely see it in practice. Here are four things that are making bipartisanship difficult to achieve in the modern U.S.:

1. The media. There’s no denying that the 24/7 news cycle has impacted the way we present and absorb news. Whereas in the past you had to catch one of two balanced newscasts in the evenings, we now are bombarded with information and updates from all kinds of perspectives at all hours of the day and night, online, on the radio, and on TV. What does this mean for bipartisanship?

Being able to tune into your favorite news programs at any time creates what media experts call confirmation bias, a phenomenon in which media consumers see only media that reinforces their existing beliefs– learning nothing new, having no challenges that widen our perspective or cause us to question our views. For bipartisanship to work, we have to see the legitimacy of the other side–and confirmation bias prevents this.

2. The two-party system. Who says that Republicans and Democrats are the only ones with the answers? In the United States, third party candidates often get shunned–in fact, Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein was arrested twice in 2012, once for attempting to enter a major debate, and another time for bringing food to protestors demonstrating against the building of the Keystone XL pipeline. However, there’s evidence to suggest there’s increasing support for alternative views in America–after being excluded from mainstream debates, third party candidates held their own debates in October.

3. Polarization. There’s no doubt that the right has been moving more to the right in the past few decades. Republicans have become increasingly conservative when it comes to important social issues affecting citizens, like LGBT rights, female reproductive rights (like contraception and abortion access), and policies that target certain minority groups. This type of polarization serves no purpose under a political system that aims to compromise and treat all citizens equally. Time will tell if Republicans budge on these issues, but polarization is not the answer.

4. Lack of education. Another issue affecting bipartisanship these days: we’re not teaching our youth how to absorb political information or debate intelligently. Teaching about politics and public policy in school is tricky–some argue it should be confined to the social sciences and should be taught objectively.  Yet it’s important to engage youth in the political process from a young age. Only 31 percent of youth regularly read newspapers, while only six percent of the newspaper audience falls between the ages of 18-24. If we can’t get our youth to be engaged citizens, what does that mean for the future of bipartisanship?

When it comes to bipartisanship, a few key elements are required: a wide knowledge of issues, a willingness to see the other side, and access to varied information and research. If we can’t achieve this, bipartisanship will continue to be an option of last resort. If we want to achieve true bipartisanship, we can’t wait for politicians to achieve it–citizens have to be the change they wish to see.

(Image courtesy DonkeyHotey, Flickr)