By ADAM J. MENEO

In the United States today, politics feels more like a war than a system of governance. Every election cycle, every news headline, and every social media post seems to hammer home the same idea: Democrats and Republicans are sworn enemies locked in an eternal struggle for power. Hyper-partisanship has poisoned not only Washington but also family dinners, workplace conversations, and even friendships.

But if our political system is going to sustain itself in its current two-party format – and let’s be honest, for the foreseeable future it will — then we, as Americans, have to radically rethink the way we approach politics. We have to look at it the same way we look at our favorite NFL football team.

Why? Because no NFL team wins by having only an offense or only a defense. The offense and defense are diametrically opposed in how they operate. They don’t look the same, they don’t act the same, and they often don’t even think the same. Yet both sides wear the same jersey, represent the same city, and have the same goal: winning the game. Without that coexistence, without the unity of purpose, the entire organization collapses.

It’s time we start looking at Democrats and Republicans the same way. They’re not two separate teams. They’re two sides of the same American team, tasked with different roles but ultimately working toward the same goal: the prosperity, stability, and success of the United States.

Offense and Defense / Republicans and Democrats: Two Opposite

but Essential Functions

Think about what happens on an NFL field. The offense’s job is to move the ball, take risks, innovate, and score points. The defense’s job is to hold the line, enforce discipline, protect against breakdowns, and stop the other team from scoring.

At first glance, they seem like polar opposites — and they are. But they also depend on each other. A high-powered offense is useless if the defense can’t stop anybody. A “lights-out” defense eventually cracks if the offense never gives them a breather. Balance is everything.

In the political realm, Democrats often play the role of the offense. They push for progress, expansion, reform, and innovation — moving the ball down the field toward new territory. Republicans often play the role of the defense. They focus on protecting traditions, guarding institutions, maintaining discipline, and ensuring we don’t lose ground by moving recklessly.

Neither is inherently “good” or “bad.” Both are necessary. Just like football, governance requires both motion and resistance, both creativity and caution, both ambition and restraint. The healthiest teams – and the healthiest democracies — are the ones that respect this balance.

The Danger of Seeing Politics

as Two Rival Teams

The problem in today’s America is that we’ve stopped seeing Democrats and Republicans as complementary parts of the same organization. Instead, we treat them as bitter rivals in two completely separate leagues. Imagine if an NFL team behaved like that.

Imagine if the defense refused to take the field because they didn’t trust the offense. Imagine if the offense sabotaged the defense just to prove a point.

Ridiculous, right? The team would lose every single game, no matter how much talent they had.

That’s exactly what’s happening in our politics. Each side is more interested in proving the other wrong than in winning together. Republicans would rather see Democrats fail than see America succeed under Democratic leadership. Democrats would rather see Republicans humiliated than see America succeed under Republican leadership. And just like a dysfunctional football team, the result is predictable: losses pile up. Stalemates. Government shutdowns. Broken systems. Public trust in freefall.

We have forgotten that Democrats and Republicans, like offense and defense, are two units of the same team: Team USA.

The Locker Room Mentality

Every coach knows that games aren’t just won on the field — they’re won in the locker room. That’s where teammates learn to trust each other, respect each other’s roles, and rally around a common mission. It doesn’t mean the offense loves everything the defense does, or vice versa. It means they recognize that each side has a role to play, and that unity matters more than personal ego.

That’s the mentality America needs. We don’t have to love the other side. We don’t have to agree with them all the time. But we do have to accept that they’re in the same locker room, wearing the same jersey, representing the same flag.

Think about it: no defensive player storms out of the locker room and says, “The offense doesn’t represent me.” No quarterback says, “I’d rather see the defense fail, just to prove I was right about their scheme.” That would be career suicide – and team suicide. But in politics, that’s the norm. Politicians win points with their base not by working together, but by attacking their teammates across the aisle.

We don’t need blind unity. We don’t need everyone calling the same plays. But we do need a locker-room mentality that says: disagreement doesn’t equal disloyalty. Debate doesn’t equal destruction. Rivalry within the team only helps the real opponents on the other side of the ball.

The Fans’ Role

And here’s where we, the American people, come in. Fans matter. Fans set the tone. Fans hold teams accountable.

What do fans want on game day? They don’t care if it’s the offense that wins the game or the defense. They don’t demand that every play go their way. They don’t boo their own team just because one side of the ball isn’t playing their preferred style. They just want the team to win.

But in politics, we’ve become toxic fans. We boo half our own team. We celebrate when “our side” scores points, even if the other side of our own jersey is collapsing. We heckle, we harass, we threaten – and then we wonder why our political system looks more like a stadium brawl than a Super Bowl run.

If Americans want politics to work, we need to act like real fans: supportive of the whole team, demanding accountability from both offense and defense, and focused on the big picture – the final score. Winning isn’t Democrats beating Republicans or Republicans humiliating Democrats. Winning is America solving problems, protecting freedoms, and moving forward as one nation.

Coaching the Future

Ultimately, a team rises or falls on leadership. In football, the head coach’s job is to manage the tension between offense and defense, between risk and restraint, between different personalities and philosophies. The best coaches don’t silence disagreement — they channel it. They turn friction into fuel.

That’s what our political leaders should be doing. Presidents, governors, senators, and representatives should be head coaches, not cheerleaders for just one unit of the team. Their responsibility is to build a culture where both sides of the ball feel valued, respected, and essential to the mission.

But leadership doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Just like in football, a coach can’t lead if the fans don’t buy into the vision. We, as citizens, need to stop rewarding politicians for being dividers and start rewarding them for being unifiers. We need to demand leaders who don’t just run plays for their base, but who manage the whole team.

Winning as One

At the end of the day, America’s future isn’t about whether the Democrats score more points or the Republicans make more stops. It’s about whether the team itself can win — whether we can protect our democracy, grow our economy, safeguard our freedoms, and strengthen our communities.

The two-party system isn’t going away tomorrow. So, if we’re going to make it work, we need to see politics for what it really is: not two separate teams fighting each other, but one team with two very different, very necessary units. Offense and defense. Democrats and Republicans. Progress and protection. Motion and discipline.

That’s how football works. That’s how governance works. That’s how America will work — if we want to win.

Adam J. Meneo is a Warren resident.