We are not a banana republic, yet we are a country that has lost its way. 

An assassination attempt on Donald Trump, a former president, at his presidential campaign rally that fails by inches reflects both a failure of state, local, and federal security and outsized criminal and wicked actions of a young gunman. 

Likewise, the brutal intellectual and political attack on an accomplished sitting president for a debate performance in which this man, who suffers from a stutter and has a habit of gaffes, was obviously physically ill and which was unfairly scheduled for someone over 80 years old from 9 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. on a workday (when presidents are typically in the White House quarters) reflects a profound unfairness within the pundit community as well as the Democratic Party. 

The narrative that the assassination attempt and struggle over President Joe Biden’s prospects as the Democratic candidate for president illustrates the polarization of the country is, however, fundamentally misguided. 

The people of the United States are not polarized, but Washington is. 

Gallup reports that 43% of American voters in 2023 clearly stated that they do not self-identify as either Democrats or Republicans. Instead, they identify as independents. You may vote for Democrats or Republicans, but that is primarily because that’s who runs for office and has a likely chance of winning. Votes for third party candidates and independents are almost always wasted votes.

These independents by and large believe that the two major parties collude to suppress contrary voices to the political establishment.  

The independents do not all sit in center. Where they sit according to the authors of “The Independent Voter” (Thom Reilly, Jacqueline Salit and Omar Ali) is in a place in protest of the duopoly that controls politics, makes money central to victory in both campaign and issue politics, and excludes voices of fundamental change.  

Independents are more against the system than they are for a particular ideological point of view, although a large percentage of them certainly are either centrists or moderates.  

The mainstream media is explaining the chaos surrounding Biden’s age and debate performance and the Trump assassination attempt as further proof of our polarized society. 

They are not.  

The story is more complicated. The Biden drama reflects the anxiety within the Democratic Party in Washington over the question of whether Biden is physically and mentally fit to defeat Trump and serve as president another four years. Yet over 40% of American voters do not see themselves as part of a D vs R politics or country. Thus they are not squarely in this struggle, one that the media magnifies. 

The assassination attempt also does not reflect a polarization struggle between members of the two major parties. Rather, it reflects a polarization struggle between 57% of the country. 

Since when is 57% of something all of something or even close to all of something? 

The untold story of America’s political conflicts in recent years is chiefly about that group of people, one that is larger than either the group who identifies with the Democratic Party and the group who identifies with the Republican Party. We have immense conflicts in our country, but there is no analogy to pre-Civil War America. We are not divided into clear Red and Blue camps.  

There is much common ground – including reducing the number of immigrants that come across the Southern border, reducing use of fossil fuel, requiring full background checks on guns, implementing some entitlement reform, and providing paid parental leave. 

Purple and Teal America must be integrated into the national narrative. 

Dave Anderson ran for Congress in Maryland in 2016, has taught political philosophy at five colleges and universities, and is the editor of Leveraging (Springer, 2014).