Before I even begin, I feel like I have to put out a disclaimer that just because I am a Republican at the age of 22, does not mean that I don't believe everything that the right wing believes. I have created my own beliefs throughout the years, yet I have still stayed on the right way's side, despite everything. I hate more than anything that I have to put a disclaimer before I say anything that I believe in because I should be able to say anything that I want without knowing that I will receive backlash for it.
I grew up with things like Bill O'Reilly and Fox News on TV all day every day. I never had a problem with it growing up. In fact, I loved it because I learned so much, not only from TV but also from my dad explaining everything to me in a way that I could understand because sometimes I couldn't just from the TV.
When I tell people I am a Republican, they think that I am the most conservative, uneducated and close-minded person in the world, and they would be wrong. Throughout the years of creating my own views, away from both my parents, I have "decided" what I believe in and what I don't, and I have come to the conclusion that the majority of my views tend to sway towards the right wing, and I don't think that that is a problem. During this most recent election, I decided to keep a good majority of my views to myself, because even though I did not necessarily support Trump from the start, I do support him and everything that he is doing in office today.
When it comes to the aspects of each side, there are certain things that I do believe and certain things that I do not agree with. From the day I learned about it, I have always been Pro-Life, because I believe that no matter how small, a fetus is a human, so I don't believe in abortion. On the other hand, unlike my dad and other Republicans, I believe in gay marriage, because you love who you love. It doesn't matter who they are. There are some things that I can't talk to my dad or my family about because we don't agree on certain things, and there is no changing my mind or theirs, and we both understand that.
I have never disliked talking about something more than talking about politics with the my friends or others around me, because whenever it comes up, I immediately feel uncomfortable and under pressure, because even though I do know what I'm talking about and I am confident in the things that I have to say, I also know that the people that decide to fight me when they find out my views on things don't really have all of the information that they should. They immediately think that I am wrong, no matter what I say and there is no way of changing their minds. Some people just don't listen because they don't care about the facts, they care about being heard, even if its wrong information.
Being a Republican is sometimes it's hard while being in college and being surrounded by the type of people that I am surrounded by. I don't like telling people my views because I know exactly what they will say and how they will react, so instead, I decide to keep a good majority of my views to myself, unless I need to get into it.
Just because my parents are Republicans and that is the way that I grew up, means nothing. I am still a Republican today, as a 22 year old woman because I believe in things that the Republican party also believes in. Over time, my views have been molded and changed and I am a kid of the 21st century, but a good majority of the views that I have and have kept with me for so long, is because of the way that I was raised, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
