One of the more interesting thought processes that has come out of this election is the realization that political parties are a bit of a travesty. I come from a town in central California that prides itself on being hard-working and conservatively kind. But, come election time, I saw little more occur than finger-pointing and cyber-yells rallying around a war cry of”: “those lefties and their crooked agendas are going to be the death of my liberty!”

This, besides being wrong in the very fiber of reality, is a very hateful jargon to participate in. Thus, I began thinking about the realities of how this could become such a class war against the opposite political party, and how that could shape the very being of the American people as a whole from here on out:

One of the weirdest phenomena of politics is that it exists to serve the people, right? The American government was founded on the premise that it will help maintain certain levels of freedom and justice for its constituency under practices of rationing powers and creating ways for the people to pursue their individual sovereignties therein.

However, the main fiber of this past election cycle is that the government is crooked and out to get us. Donald Trump ran on a campaign trail as a natural novice in the hope that the people would ultimately choose to embrace freedom in the form of governmental regress in the name of “making American great again.”

However, an entirely huge drawback of this election is that it has done little more on a social level than completely obliterate any form of societal unity. Many of my own hometown friends have already begun the process of ousting my credibility because I live in San Francisco— without even knowing who I voted for, I have already been removed as someone who deserves to be dignified on the subject of voting because of my mailing address. If we truly believe that our political power is to only elevate self on the premise of party loyalty, we will have as unsteady of a foundation as we have seen our political institutions crumble upon.

So much of this election, thus, has become a matter of identity politics. It has regressed into little more than polarized opinion and skewed data forms over any sort of community building. Such a deeply static way of political views brings nothing more to the dinner table than stubbornness and escalated voices.

And, while it is never a bad thing to know what you believe to be right and make decisions on such, the allowance for someone else to exercise the same freedoms is a universal truth. I’m always going to stress the need to step out of our political bubbles and see what real communities around you need; to love and see what others see. Because, this is the reality of the human condition: to simply exist, live with, and love other people with vigor.

So, another way to simply be is to stop letting a political party dictate your very being. To, as very needed, simply sit with your communities and see what is needed for the very being of as many people that you can possibly see in your places. The reality of the fact is that a political climate that simply rests on sides instead of morale falls into a trap of selfishness and finger-pointing.

We gotta be ready to combat the current conditions of dichotomy and fear-mongering with real communication and a lens that will far outshine any nuance of “toleration” or removing ourselves from our real communities at any all and rate.