I am an international affairs major—basically political science on a global scale. I pay more attention to politics and the news than most people probably do. I have my own opinions on policies and controversial topics, and I don't mind sharing that opinion in appropriate situations. However, lately I have noticed something; while I can honestly say that political science classes are by far my favorite, and have been since I took my first government class three years ago, when controversial topics are brought up in class I immediately cringe.

I know I'm not alone in this political discomfort, but I always thought that those who are familiar with the concepts and inner workings of political theory would be the ones who were inclined to have discussions. Thursday as I was sitting in a political science class, a review for our midterm turned into a discussion about the shooting in Oregon and thus the topic of gun control came up. I couldn't wait to be out of that room. Everyone was respectful and calm and presented relatively intelligent points. So why did I want to escape?

I reached a few verdicts, thinking that perhaps the more I know about politics, the more I feel icky about everything that's happening right now. More than anything however, I have come to the conclusion that the less politicians are willing to work outside party lines on a true bi-partisan level, the more the ante will be raised and the less people will agree. In a time when we need to stand together more than ever, the United States government, politicians and people are finding more and more things to disagree about. We're looking for adversity rather than dealing with what's already on our plate. We're picking fights on things that people have been arguing about for decades, but we're no closer to a solution.

Every election half of the nation threatens to rush to Canada (while Canada begs us not to), but this coming election I think a lot more people will be looking towards America's umbrella for some protection from the storm. The only thing that seems to be shared by all is a myopic view of how they want THEIR country to be, so while some push for progress they are met only with the stubborn opposing view.

I feel icky because I always thought we were better than this, but the more I learn about it the more I see we're clearly not. I feel icky because people I thought were good people clearly are not, and boy will I miss them while they're continuing to ideologically travel back to the 1950s. I feel icky because my generation is having to decide if their children will be born into a place worth living, or if we will even die in a place worth dying. I feel icky because we are doing this to ourselves.

United we stand, divided we fall—and America is yelling "Timber!"