Among my friends, I'm constantly referred to with a sarcastic nickname "CNN" because I always seem to know what is going on in the political world. They teased me about my desperate support for John Kasich during the primaries continually hoping as I would that someone credible would actually win the nominations. Most students here at UCSB were behind Bernie Sanders, but that effort ultimately did not carry to the DNC.

As the focus returns to politics until November, we are stuck with two major party candidates with record high unapproval ratings. Few trust either candidate, and see third parties as non-legitimate options.

It's easy to point to the other side as the "dumb side" and polarize the country even further. Neither major candidate has called for unity in a country that prided themselves in coming together in times of trial and hardship. Republicans call Democrats "libtards" and Democrats call Republicans "insensitive bigots."

A casual browsing of my Facebook feed each day sees the same videos, articles, and stories posted by both conservative and liberal friends. Rarely even-handed, people will take the stories to fit their certain point of view and have different commentary on these same articles. In Psychology, it is called the confirmation bias. It has been studied over and over again because people do not want to have the wrong point of view.

Here I am stuck in the middle confused and alone because it feels there's not many people who think like me. In my heart of hearts, I know it can't be true. Both candidates have positions that would be ludicrous to take only a few years ago.

So what about the few of us in the middle?

What happened to not believing in a $15 minimum wage and free in-state college tuition?

What happened to believing that non-criminal undocumented immigrants could be granted a path to citizenship?

What happened to believing in a tax system that motivates success instead of punishing it?

What happened to not seeing all Muslims as dangerous and instead seeing them as pro-America citizens?

What happened to a support in the social laws that are passed instead of griping and moaning when it doesn't go your way?

I could definitely go on, but I am most likely polarizing myself. Our country has done great things as a united country. We came together industrially to defeat the fascism and evil of our world in the 1940's. We came together (reluctantly) after a brutal Civil War and attempted to reconstruct a broken nation. Recently, we came together after the tragedy of 9/11 to show that America was strong together. We have many problems, but they are solved with bipartisan solutions.

My beloved nation has become a nation of finger-pointing and name-calling and I suppose that being independent makes me moderate.

I encourage my friends and readers to examine the news sources they get their "news" from. MSNBC, Tomi Lahren, The Young Turks, and Fox News are not reliable moderate news sources. They fall victim to a confirmation bias when you examine the substance of the opinion they are trying to push. Before having an opinion, read facts on issues instead of just watching late-night TV.

I don't know what the next step for the Moderate Minority is. All I know is that we should make our voices heard. If there are more people that believe in sensical policies than what meets the eye, maybe change will occur. Moderate isn't sexy, but it moves the country forward because both sides are forced to compromise.

Until sense returns, maybe someone could let me know if there's another option besides minor third parties. My ears and eyes are open.