This is the first political article I have ever written and honestly, I am quite reluctant to even have this posted. That is mainly due to the fact that people can be so harsh over political views nowadays. I usually refrain from posting my views because I don’t like stirring the pot or causing any drama. With this topic, in particular, I feel the need to speak up rather than remain silent, though.

As some of you may have seen on social media or maybe even the news, Tomi Lahren, a conservative woman that makes videos about her views, has recently confessed to being pro-choice despite the fact that she claims to be a conservative. You may be thinking that I am about to rant about abortion or about Tomi Lahren herself, but that is not what this is about. What I want to talk about is the backlash she received for confessing her views on abortion. There were many people that called her a hypocrite and said that she was not a real republican for being pro-choice. It alarmed me that there were people that praised her for views that are now calling her terrible things for one view they don’t agree on.

Now don’t get me wrong, I am honestly not a fan of Tomi Lahren and I have a very strong opinion about her. I am not even trying to defend over this or even any of the other things she has said. That is not the point. The point is that political views shouldn’t be restricted to just what political party you fall under. It seems like a vast amount of people believe that if you are a conservative or a liberal, you must believe in all the views that the party you fall in believes in. They think that liberals can’t have any conservative views or that conservatives can’t have any liberal views. In reality, though, I feel as if this is quite hard to follow. There is a multitude of people that have mixed political views. Some may have an equal mix of different political views, while some may have their views lean more towards a specific political party. This doesn’t mean there something wrong with having your view strictly based on the political party of your liking, though. This just means that people have gone through many different experiences in life, so naturally, people will have different views on things.

Thinking that everyone must fall under strict guidelines for their beliefs based on the political party they chose causes separation and lack of individuality. Forcing people to follow these unwritten guidelines does nothing, but drive us apart. What we need to be doing is stopping trying to force these stereotypes on political views and let people be able to freely think about individual topics and base what they believe off of what they experienced instead of stuffing them into one box and scolding them for stepping out of it. This will lead people to understand each other a little more and maybe even find more things in common. It might even relieve some tension and get people out of hating people that are the opposite political party as them.

Another issue with this is that there are plenty of people out there that might not even know what political party they fall under. There are even times when they are asked “Are you a liberal or conservative?” and they won’t know how to answer. People are then quick to ask them their views on specific topics and are quick to put a label on them just based off of maybe two or three questions. There is such a broad array of political views that a few questions over very few topics won’t even give you an idea on what your political views might lean towards.

What I encourage everyone to do is take the quiz on isidewith.com and look at the party tab to where your views fall under the most. Not only will it show you whether you are a democrat or republican, but also whether you have views in the green party, the libertarian party, and other third parties that not many people talk about. They even show you what topics you are most concerned over and where your ideology swings the most. This quiz doesn’t just have to be for those that don’t know what party they mostly fall under, but for those that do as well because you might even surprise yourself.

Whether you are conservative, liberal, or under any third parties, it is okay to have some views that fall under a different party. As human beings, we are made to be unique and different and not fall into strict guidelines. When it comes to your political views, you are the one that determines what you believe, not what society wants you to believe. You have the freedom to be a conservative with some liberal views or a liberal with some conservative views. Don’t let people make you think it is not okay.