I have noticed that everyone has an opinion. I am not sure if I simply have more opportunities to mingle with people from different backgrounds because of moving from a rural area to an urban city for my college education, but I have realized that almost every day I am given a new perspective on politics, religion, lifestyles and everything in between. 

Sometimes the conversation starts simply by telling people that I am a political science major. Recently at my cousin’s wedding I did just this and a relative there told me this bit of advice, “Any sort of government intervention is taking away from people’s freedoms and those are the freedoms I fought for. Anyone who tells you differently is stupid.” While he was talking to me I had to think back to a conversation I had not an hour before with people at the wedding from Belgium. One of them was an advocate for the European Union and told me how her job is actually educating students on the benefits of the EU, which includes having more accessible borders between European countries. For one last point, the day before the wedding I spoke to a very successful man who said it was better to be in the right than to compromise to have a united country. His “right” was an equal tax system and strict immigration laws.

President Barack Obama said, “Increasingly, we become so secure in our bubbles that we accept only information, whether true or not, that fits our opinions, instead of basing our opinions on the evidence that’s out there.” I would bet that Democrats heard this thinking about Donald Trump supporters and any Trump supporter who actually listened to Obama thought that he could use some of his own advice, along with every other liberal out there.

Now, anyone who is reading this is probably still thinking, “But that’s not me. I read the news and know the facts.”

What are you even reading? Is it not true that CNN caters to liberal individuals while FOX News caters to conservatives? Would you ever stand to watch the opposite one of what you watch or would you quickly dismiss it for its bias?

In the media, facts are presented for opinions. Opinions are formed on the facts that support the pre-existing opinions. From what I am told, conservatives are evil, racist and supporters of systematic oppression, while liberals are snowflakes that intend to erase every Christian principle built into our society. If you do not believe me, know that it has taken me a long time to even learn the principles of each party.

What is taught now are poster boards of each party. You oppose gay marriage? You’re Republican. You want to raise the minimum wage? You’re a Democrat. If the core principles were explained, I think the current parties would look very different (oh and yes, that is an opinion). I think that individuals deserve individual freedom, that government functions more efficiently closer to home, that climate change is happening and needs to be confronted, that the minimum wage should be raised to account for the increase of the cost of living, that we need stricter gun regulations, that the constitution should be upheld and defended, that programs and institutions in government have to be cut and privatized and that same-sex marriage should stay legalized.

So, can you tell me what I am? Is it possible that someone can be a conservative Democrat or maybe a liberal Republican? Or maybe, just maybe, a reasonable human who examines all the facts?

According to our party platforms, we live in a society of polar opposites. I was wondering just how polar though and what I found was reassuring. According to a Gallup poll in October 2015, 86 percent of individuals favored a law that would require universal background checks for all gun purchases in the U.S. using centralized database across all 50 states. Another poll by Pew Research in 2016 shows that Americans are not clearly divided by a line when it comes to abortion either. Only 23 percent believe abortion should be legal in all cases, and a mere 15 percent believe it should be illegal in all cases. When a sample was asked by Gallup if they would support or oppose raising the federal minimum wage to $9 an hour, 76 percent said they would vote for raising it in 2013.

I have hope that Americans are not as divided as the picture was painted by the past election. After all, when forced to vote between two candidates or to choose between two parties, what is a person to do? The actual issues portray where most Americans lie — as moderates. This is further shown by the growing number of people who register as Independent in lieu of the two-party system; a record 43 percent in 2016 chose “independent” as their political affiliation.

Even when someone chooses Republican or Democrat as his or her political affiliation, grand statements should not be used to describe every view they have on a matter. One could draw many comparisons between Democrat John F. Kennedy and Republican Ronald Reagan even though they identified with different parties. Political affiliations are a major component of our identities, but we should be shaping our parties, not the other way around.