Politics

So obviously the political climate especially in the US has been incredibly stressful (is that the right word)? Maybe a better word would be polarized? The fact is, many people believe that the country is in shambles. For the most part, people agree on this issue. However, they don't agree about the solution. Now, I will admit that I haven't been politically active all that long. I am 22 years old, and last year was the first time that I was legally old enough to vote for the president. Now, I voted in other elections that did not involve the president, but obviously that was a big election. I feel like I have been forced to involve myself in politics. In fact, I have found that it is nearly impossible to suppress my opinion when politics come up so often. It's funny though, I feel like most of my life I've been told that we shouldn't talk about the big three: money, religion, and politics. I absolutely disagree with this.

I think a large problem is that we haven't talked about this kind of stuff before. I mean we have, but behind closed doors and only with people of our same view points and socioeconomic class? How does that help the discussion? How can we as a country come together to make policies and elect officials that represent who we are, if we don't talk about it? It's sad. And we can't make informed decisions or votes if we choose to sweep it under the rug.

People are free to believe in whatever they want. But I ask, that they have things to back up their opinions. I think there is a lot of news out there that really hasn't been fact checked at all. I also think that watching the news may not be the best decision when trying to get hard facts on something. I'm sorry but Fox News.... and even other news organizations that lean too far to the left or right, may not be the best source. News is biased. I think we would all love to see it not be biased, but is that true today? Absolutely not.

We need to have open dialogue on issues that affect so many people in this country. I think it's important to know your stance, but I think it's important to listen to the other side as well. That way, we can at least see if there are any similarities in our thinking. If there are, then we can go from there. I think there is a lot of misunderstanding going on between political parties as well as issues. I personally am not a fan of the 2 party system because I don't think that people fall completely into one party. Even within a party, there may be people with more conservative ideas than others. I've known republicans who have repeatedly voted for democrats because their beliefs align more with them. I think the practice of blindly voting for our party can get us into a lot of trouble because we may not necessarily believe in that issue or set of beliefs. This was apparent through this last presidential election. Many people I talked to voted for Donald Trump because they were republican. In fact, they really didn't know what he stood for. Other people decided to focus solely on how much they hated Hilary Clinton. They focused so much on her, I felt like many of them lost track of why they would vote for Donald Trump. I have also seen many people regret their decision to vote for Donald Trump.

This country is divided and I think a lot of it stems from misunderstanding. I think that people need to inform themselves on the issues before they start arguing with other people. In fact, we shouldn't be arguing at all. We should be having civil conversations about issues that affect everyone! Do I understand that some people think that we should take care of our own people instead of immigrants or refugees? Sure. Do I think that some of these people saying this don't even donate to programs that would help the homeless or others? Yeah. Do I think that people are hypocritical on both sides? Of course. Do I think we should build a wall and charge Mexico for it? No. While I don't agree with many of the stances that this administration has taken, I do acknowledge that people that may have supported him do have their own reasons for it. Do I think we need to come together as people rather than political parties in order to pass legislation and policies that are going to help people in general? ABSOLUTELY. 

I think we've lost our way. And you want to know who is paying the price? All of us. As well as our children, and our children's children. What type of legacy do we want to leave behind? A country that is imploding in on itself? Or do we want to act like the world superpower that we are and help the people of our nation as well as those internationally that cannot help themselves due to poor circumstances? Again, I think there's a lot of misunderstanding. It shouldn't be democrats versus republicans. It shouldn't be snowflakes against racists. I think that people are quick to judge and that leads to the policies and issues that we all are interested in, ending up getting lost.

I'm not saying that you need to change your view point. I'm suggesting that we open a dialogue that is in a safe manner. Where people from any perspective and any side feels comfortable talking through the issues that are important to them. We need to talk about politics. We need to educate our children on social issues as well as how politics intertwines with that. Can we teach our children to be good people, good citizens? How about we start talking about the real issues. How about we teach our children that their voice can be heard, rather than teach them hatred for people we don't even know.