As a voter of the liberal persuasion during a huge election year, I’ve become more than passingly familiar with the stereotypes and assumptions that conservative voters and media outlets believe about progressives; some are sort of adorable in an out-of-touch and ignorantly nostalgic kind of way, like Fox’s belief that progressives tend to be reefer enthusiasts whose love for Big Brother is equaled only by their disdain for our Lord and Savior, but it seems to me that one thread unites most of the narratives used in hardline conservative commentary – liberals, and millennials in particular, are too easily offended.

While, normally, the ravings of "Fox & Friends" wouldn’t cause me any concern other than the usual effect of diminishing my confidence in the critical thinking abilities of the average American, this particular sentiment about the perceived over-sensitivity felt by progressives is different. Not only is it dismissive to decry liberal policies on the basis that progressives *gasp* care too much about the well-being of other humans, but the facts indicate that, in reality, the parties are actually the opposite of what conservative media would have you believe – conservatives are demonstrably more sensitive and easily offended than liberals are, as becomes apparent when any scrutiny is applied to their policy proposals and views of how American should function.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not claiming that liberal voters don’t ever get offended, but it seems so obvious that conservatives are more likely to meet this description that I’m baffled by how infrequently I see this point get made. While progressives can definitely be offended as any person can, it’s rare that a liberal politician’s feelings will be so hurt by an issue that they try to pass legislation to ensure that the behavior they dislike is forbidden – the same cannot be said for conservative politicians, whose trademark over the last 30 years has been to regulate morality based on their own personal beliefs, regardless of any notions about whether or not their feelings actually matter when deciding policy.

Let’s use everyone’s latest favorite instance of conservative lunacy as an example; just this year, North Carolina passed a controversial law requiring people to use the restroom they biologically correspond with, rather than the one they are the most comfortable with and that matches their gender identity the best. In this case, liberals are actually fighting to keep things exactly the same as they’ve always been, while at the same time conservative figures, despite the fact that they 1) apparently didn’t realize transgender people even existed until last year, 2) can show no occurrences of assaults committed by transgender individuals in restrooms that have ever been documented, and 3) have literally been sharing restrooms with trans people for their entire lives without ever realizing it, are nevertheless so incensed and confused about the prospect of something they don’t understand that they pass legislation purely to make themselves feel more comfortable.

So-called “bathroom laws” do more than just keep trans individuals from being comfortable in public restrooms, and oftentimes the bathroom portion of the laws is only a distraction, a way of marketing the bill to voters to make it seem like supporting such asinine legislation is in their best interests; in reality, these bills also typically serve to hinder civil protections for LGBT persons in areas such as housing, employment, and health care, all because conservatives are uncomfortable.

And this isn’t the only area where their lack of comprehension results in other Americans suffering. Let’s look at a few more examples of conservative attempts to force subjective notions of morality into legislation, and in doing so let’s consider why these laws are actually passed – is it for the good of the country, or because conservative Americans felt offended or didn’t understand something?

Kentucky county clerk, Kim Davis, an elected state official, defied a Supreme Court ruling ordering her to issue marriage licenses to gay couples, with her religious beliefs being the basis for her refusal to do so. Fox’s make-believe War on Christmas once prompted Megyn Kelly to proclaim on air that “for all you kids watching at home, Santa just is white,” in response to the ridiculous notion that a fictional character could exist as any race other than what she believed as a child (or to this day, apparently). The Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy (a socially conservative law passed by Bill Clinton, a Democrat) forbid homosexuals from openly serving in the military based on some ridiculous notion that soldiers are so sensitive about other servicemen’s sexuality that they couldn’t perform their duties effectively if they knew they served with a gay person. Ted Cruz once attempted to criminalize the use of sex toys in his home state of Texas, because Cruz views masturbation as a sinful act, with his legal team stating “there is no substantive-due-process right to stimulate one’s genitals” (contrary to testimony from his college roommate). Tennessee conservatives earlier this year attempted to pass a law designating the Christian Bible as the official state book of Tennessee, even though we live in an ostensibly secular society in which one religion is not supposed to be endorsed by the state above all others. And, in what is perhaps simultaneously the most hilarious and the most terrifying example, presumptive Republican presidential nominee/animated burlap sack/bribery enthusiast Donald Trump recently stated that he would “open up our libel laws” in an effort to sue people who write articles that are unflattering for his candidacy (but no less true). Gee, seems like conservatives are a lot more sensitive than they like to let on, especially when it comes to them feeling uncomfortable about things they don’t understand.

There seems to be a simple question that conservatives are incapable of answering: why should we care about their comfort? When the North Carolina’s legislature was drafting HB2, do you think any of them stopped to think “I wonder if this will make anybody in the transgender community uncomfortable?” Did Kim Davis ever think to herself, “am I making anyone else feel uncomfortable by announcing I’d rather go to jail than let two adults coexist as a married couple? Does it make it okay if I say I think it’s icky?”

To paraphrase Trae Crowder, if we went back in time 100 years, a large majority of our own families would be uncomfortable if they went into a restaurant and there was a black family sitting at the table next to them. If those same family members were alive today and complained about it, we wouldn’t be scrambling to pass legislation to make them feel better - we would tell them to get the hell over it.