When I was growing up my mom always told me that you never talk about two things at the dinner table: politics and religion. I'm sorry mom, but I'm about to ignore your advice.
It is not easy being a college Republican.
Everyone loves to hate you. There are a ton of misconceptions about your beliefs that no one cares enough to try and understand. Yet, the same people that are preaching tolerance and acceptance are the quickest people to point the finger and label you a bigot. You are an easy target for a world that thrives on labeling everything that is not "politically correct" as racist or sexist. You do not understand what the real world is like because you suffer from “privilege.”
As a Republican, you are told that you are selfish and you just do not want to help out the “little people.” The sad part is that a majority of Democrats fail to realize that you want the same thing as they do; you want a better America. The paths that both parties choose to embark on are just different. Republicans believe that people should be taxed minimally to encourage a free market, while Democrats believe that higher taxes ensure an equal distribution of wealth. At the same time though, both parties honestly believe that they are doing what America needs. In my opinion this does not make anyone bad or wrong, it just makes us different.
You feel almost like a pariah. It is socially acceptable to cover all of your appliances with bumper stickers that say, “Feeling the Bern,” yet you are afraid to put a Marco Rubio sticker on your water bottle because of the comments and stares that will surely accompany you publicly endorsing a candidate that is not Hillary or Bernie. You feel guilty because you do not see what everyone else sees when it comes to those candidates.
In addition, you have been shamed by a multitude of people for saying that you do not believe college should be free, yet they do not try and understand your reasoning. It is not that you don't realize that college is expensive, it is that you know that nothing is really "free." Everyone's taxes, not just the top 1 percent, will be raised to help pay for college and for this reason you choose not to support a candidate that encourages this.
It has been decided for you that you are now a supporter of Donald Trump, even if you may not necessarily be one. People question me all of the time, “How could you possibly choose to affiliate yourself with a party that has elected Trump as their nominee?” All I want to say is that, even though I am a proud registered Republican, does not mean in any way that I will always support the Republican candidate. My opinions and my support change depending on each candidate that remains in the presidential election.
I am tired of liberals being “right” in a world of gray, where everyone is entitled to their own opinion and allowed to vote whichever way they please. There is no right and wrong. There is only different. If we, both Democrats and Republicans, spent all this time and energy changing America instead of condemning those whose views are different and those who have “privilege,” then think about the difference we could make as a nation.
I know that the reaction to this article will be people telling me to “check my privilege,” that I do not understand what it is like to be a minority in a world that only accepts the majority. People will make sure to point out that I am white and that I am currently in college, in an attempt to devalue my opinion. I will be called names, told that I am clueless and be threatened and belittled because my values do not align with others. But, before you judge me with the hammer of political correctness, ask yourself this: "Who am I to judge someone because they believe different things than me?"
