Through the course of this presidential race, I am finding it more obvious than ever that people I am surrounded by are generally not extremely concerned about who will be voted as the next president of the United States. Sure, every time I log onto Facebook, or any social media platform for that matter, there is someone posting a link or a personal rant about who should win and why, or which candidate is a joke and has no business running.
But, when I have talked to several of my friends, they will say something along the lines of: “I do not feel educated enough on the candidates, or politics in general, to be considered a good voter.” For a long time, I felt the same way.
I have always believed in the same things and held the same positions on issues, but I was nervous about voicing them because of how I thought others might react. Mostly, I wanted to avoid the conflict that could come from an extremely politically- polarized individual.
Last year, I attended a talk where a congressman spoke about how “bitterly partisan” the government was becoming and that the election process has become “total war.” After hearing this, why would I want to get involved? Why would I want to express my opinion out loud? The congressmen addressed how the parties are becoming more and more distant, with completely Conservative Republicans on one side and totally Liberal Democrats on the other. In a country that should be brought together, we are letting it be torn apart.
As college students, we have no problem talking about the class that is destroying our GPA, the party we went to over the weekend, or who was seen doing what, but we get nervous to bring up our stance on issues like abortion, healthcare, and the economy?
I think people would feel more educated if it was not seen as a bad thing to have more civil and respected conversation about these topics. Ever since we started school as children, we have been told to keep our political opinions to ourselves, because we do not want to offend anyone or be the one offended. Why does this have to be an offensive thing?
The hostility of Facebook posts and brutal blogs make politics appear like a complete bloodbath. What this is leading to is a generation of people who do not think that their opinions are strong enough to make a difference just because they are not willing to go on strikes or participate in active protests.
Social and political activist, Paul Loeb, is the founder of the Campus Election Engagement Project that travels throughout the country encouraging college students to participate in elections. He talks about the “perfect standard," which refers to people feeling like no matter how much they know about an issue or candidate, it still is not enough to make an educated, confident vote.
A couple days ago, I encouraged my friends to take a multiple choice quiz that would match them with a candidate who holds the most similar beliefs to them. This small effort triggered conversation among all of us and already people were becoming more interested. Not being afraid to participate in a conversation and have your opinion heard as well as listening to others has the potential to make people feel more comfortable and educated when it comes to the real deal. Hearing someone else’s idea might even cause you to change your own. The best way for us to learn is through respected, thoughtful conversation.
