In the US, the biggest current event's are the wildfires that are plaguing certain demographics of the world.
These wildfires have been ecologically harmful. Reports from the California Fire Database, write that despite all the efforts put in by fire fighters, these wildfires are still out of control. Data shows that in the past 2 days there have been 3 new fires and containment for these fires range from 3-90% and are not consistently effective. These fires have had a detrimental impact on the quality of life, health and agricultural development. One angle to view it from can be the agricultural damage. Yet again, the database tells us that 3.1 million acres of land in California, nearly 26 times higher then prior years, have been destroyed due to these fires. This impact is detrimental to both California and the nation as wildfire's slow down their agricultural production. The impact is non-quantifiable as the severity of fires vary but the empirical impact still exists. As Agamerica writes these effects destroy the irrigation system that take years to rebuild again showing the severity of the impact of these wildfires. Despite, the rising damage, the national attention of these wildfire's is not due too their severity and damage rather an political opportunity. These fires are caused for multiple reasons. One such is the climate. California is already a barren place with little moisture (due to the years of drought) we have had and the increase in the temperature has not helped. In fact due to California's hot weather, the temperature rising to about 130 degrees (in some places), making it harder to stop these wildfires and contain them. The wildfires start due to small sparks or flames and because of the lack of moisture in California's dry season, becoming impossible to put out. However, because the root cause of the severity of the fire is the climate, it is being changed into a political matter. In early 2017, President Trump, resigned from the Paris Climate Accord (a long standing treaty) that worked to benefit the environment and reduce emissions. Due to this, the Wildfires are becoming a political issue as Democrats blame Trump for these conditions. CBC writes that Gavin Newsom and other Democrats while briefing Trump on the issues in California, blamed him, for this issue and reportedly told him to "Open his eyes". This is the root problem of what is wrong with the political system right now. An issue like climate change should not be a political issue. This fractured political system has lead to the lives of thousands in California alone having their life ruined while our representatives turn a blind eye to the problem and play the "blame game" using tragedies to further their political agenda. I am saying that they (politicians as a whole) are complicit because a serious issue, taking thousands of lives right now, is not a matter for the election. It is a matter to save the American public. Democrats should not be blaming Republicans for Trump's actions back in 2017 and conversely Republicans should stop blaming Democrats. This is an urgent issue that should not be a political agenda but rather a disaster that needs to be fixed. It sums up the fractured system of American Politics. Politicizing these issue's are really bad for multiple reasons. The main being, fracturing a already broken political system more. When this happens, politicians are forced to take a hard stance on other issues and common ground becomes even rarer. So issue's like this, if they happen in the future, will not have any action from either party in fear of repercussions from the latter. Empirics prove, as both in the 2012 and 2016 elections, large amount of political backlash occurred making the next candidates take hardline stances on the same issue in order too garner votes. This creates a stigma that if one side agrees with something the other is forced to disprove of it. Foreign Aid is a common example as it used to be bipartisan but after the 2016 election, Republican's have been pushing to eliminate it. All of this adds up to a more fractured system with each party getting severe hardline stances. This causes a shift in political parties (being in power) to result in shifts in polices resulting in a change of polices each year. While obviously this impact is not going to manifest after one issue, it will be a snowball effect, ramping up over the years. If this issue is not fixed we will see a fractured state with a political gridlock resulting in a long lasting policy paralysis resembling empirics from the Great Depression.
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