In America, we are given the opportunity to make and voice our own opinions, wherever and whenever. This allows us a lot of flexibility to simultaneously enrage and enlighten people all at once, causing a potentially sticky situation.
In my personal experience, I can see where my political beliefs have been rooted. Growing up, my parents never suggested or hinted at any party or public figure that they supported or detested. However, with time I have been able to slyly uncover their beliefs, but only after I started to form opinions of my own. If anything, I believe that the circumstances of my upbringing had more influence on my political standing than my parents’ spoken words.
Sometime early in high school, I started to lean more on the conservative side of the fence. I started to side more with the economic policies and the traditional belief in less government interference in citizens’ lives.
The tricky thing about politics is that it is so incredibly hard to side with one side completely, at least for me it is. I have personally found that the easiest topics for me to understand and question are the ones regarding social justice issues.
In the past, I have shown my support for gay rights in a myriad of ways, including the ever-so-silly Facebook profile picture. There is no hiding the fact that I am a strong believer in marriage equality, as well as being pro-choice. Therefore, it may come to a shock to some of how I tend to stand and identify politically. As my beloved (and fictional) Will McAvoy once said on the acclaimed HBO Series, ‘Newsroom,’ “I’m a registered republican; I only seem liberal because I believe that hurricanes are caused by high barometric pressure, and not gay marriage.” After Mr. McAvoy made that comment, I couldn’t help but laugh and adopt it as my own personal motto.
What is the goal of the Republican Party these days? Because more often than not, I feel as though it is targeted as being the party of closed-minded traditionalists too stuck in their old (and often religious) ways. Why can we not just adjust our views on marriage equality and deviate from any and all religious beliefs that we might associate with it? Furthermore, what happened to the basic definition of the Republican Party, which states that they believe in less government interaction? Because if I remember correctly, that’s what I found most attractive about the party.
So here’s my big plea to the Republican Party – please tone it down a bit. Start to pick your battles to be ones that are less offensive to the public as a whole. Step away from the adored church and your devout beliefs, because religion should not have a say in the majority of the matters that have been clogging our favorite News apps. Go back to the old beliefs in limited interaction, meaning limited rules and regulations that inhibit a citizen’s freedom of choice. Because the way I see it, changes are inevitable and the longer they stand blocking the door on such trivial issues, the more distasteful we will look in the future.
