Open Letter to Liberals AND Conservatives
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Open Letter to Liberals AND Conservatives

It's time to stop fighting because you are BOTH being stupid.

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Open Letter to Liberals AND Conservatives
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So a lot of people are critical of President Trump. I am one of them. However lately I have been becoming more and more sympathetic to the political right, and actually understand the Republican party more then the political left and the media have been leading me to believe.

Earlier this year, I took a Global Sociology course. On one particular day in the month of March, the campus held a "teach in." Rather then the typical lecture we received during in my Sociology course, we were discussing current events and issues going on in the media. Almost all of the topics were related to Trump. We were analyzing Trump's immigration policy. At the beginning of the class, it seemed that everyone including myself were all in agreement. That Trump's ban on the Syrian refugees was wrong, as well as the wall he is planning to build on the Mexican border. The college campus I attend is heavily liberal so I didn't think anyone from the conservative side of the argument would actually come forward and try to defend Trump's Immigration policy.

But someone did...

There was a young women sitting in the front of the classroom, and while I can't remember what she said word for word, I do remember she was trying to defend the reasons why the new Immigration policy might be necessary. Unsurprisingly, she was met with a lot of negative responses from most of the class. Some of them were constantly interrupting her, not giving her a chance to make her point, and she really tried. That's when I spoke up.

You see, one of the points she made was that there are a lot of illegal immigrants pouring into the country, and they are in fact taking jobs. With most of these jobs, they were in fact being paid "off the books." This meant that they didn't have to pay taxes, and the taxpayers would be paying more taxes for themselves. People who have worked hard to have a roof over their heads and food at the table, having to pay more taxes because these illegals aren't paying taxes for themselves. Obviously, most liberals would respond in calling this "xenophobic" on the mere fact that this women was supporting a policy looking to deport illegal immigrants. I am not an expert of economics so I am willing to admit that what I am saying may be inaccurate.

Now being a person with heavy liberal leanings, I can understand why anyone on the political left would call this xenophobic. It's unfair to the people that are working hours and intense manual labor for so little, just to provide for their families, to just send them back to where they came from. Most of us see the Travel ban on those seven Muslim countries as discrimination. We've moved past the separate drinking fountains, we moved past the Jim Crow laws, and the bombing of abortion clinics and we've only began accepting the LGBT community and giving them rights. But somehow we still see xenophobia in this country, and in the past dozen years, we've seen Islamophobia, which seemed to be on a decline in the aftermath of killing Osama Bin Laden. But when ISIS surfaced as the new threat, we began seeing the same spikes in hate crimes against Muslims that we saw in the aftermath of 9/11. But I am not hear to talk about Islamaphobia, that'll be for another article. I am here to appeal to BOTH SIDES of the political debate.

You need to respect each other.

This is for the conservatives.

In the recent months I've actually began listening to the Republican arguments on certain topics in the media, and I've actually began sympathizing with conservatives. I think someone like Ben Shapiro is a intelligent man, clearly educated in both sides, and while I may not agree with him half the time, he can produce a reasonable argument. In fact, most conservatives I know have been able to debate me and even give very compelling arguments. But why do liberals still hate you?

If there is one thing I've come to notice is when a certain hate group or crime is committed and Trump's name comes up, you guys tend to stay quite on the subject. This is giving liberals more of a reason to go after you. I am still suspicious about why Trump never commented on the Mosque shooting up in Canada back in February. I wonder why no conservatives come forward insisting that Richard Spencer, leader of the Alt-Right National Party, doesn't represent them, especially since he held an event in the aftermath of Trump's election where people in the audience were giving the Nazi solute. How come I don't hear any of you condemning that?

Most liberal's are cynical, I have guilty of this as well. But we see these kind of hate crimes committed and to us, we wonder what YOU think of it. We hate that. We hate discrimination, and its heartbreaking to know that it still happens today.

If you want liberals to pay attention to you, you have to acknowledge the negative actions that people of the political right, aka you're political party do. You need to make it clear that they don't represent you. The Klu Klux Klan doesn't represent you. White supremacists don't represent you. That psycho who walked into a mosque and shot 6 people, doesn't represent you. You need to notice that there are people that make you look bad and that's what most liberals tend to see.

So pay attention to the news. There is a reason liberals get so up in arms about this subject.

Now for my liberal friends.

Shut your mouth and open your ears! If I can do it so can you!!

One of the things that most liberals tend to do, and I have done this... is generalize the opposing side. We say things like "Republican's are racist," or "Republican's are sexist." We make these general assumptions without taking the time to listen to what they have to say, and that needs to change.

Not every Republican is a racist. Not every Republican is xenophobic. Not every Republican is Islamophobic. Not every Republican opposes gay marriage. Let me remind you that Abraham Lincoln, Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglas were Republicans, and they did amazing things for this country. And I will say it, I would've voted for Ben Carson if he was nominated.

Before you go about criticizing what conservatives have to say, first you gotta stop generalizing the whole political right, there is a difference between a Republican and an Identitarian. Second, you have to listen to what they have to say so you know their argument and why they hold that position. Third, and this the most important of the three, if you still disagree, you have to counter their argument WITHOUT distorting their statement, and reducing it to "that's discrimination." If you believe its wrong, argue why its wrong. If you believe its racist, then be specific and stay why you think it's racist.

And you certainly aren't make a political statement of any kind by destroying property and harassing conservative students. I go to a campus where it happens all the time, and it certainly doesn't represent me as a Democrat or a Libertarian.

I find it amazing, how one of the things Liberals are vocal about... or at least they think they promote freedom of speech, freedom or religion, freedom of expression, and so on. And yet, when someone else comes along, that has an opinion differ to your liberal beliefs, you accuse them of simply being a terrible person. You tell them you have to think differently in order to think "the right way." If a Christian baker doesn't want to bake for a gay wedding, the government cannot force him to bake the cake because that violates the separation of church and state and the right to religious freedom. When you force someone to follow the same ideology as you, that is authoritarianism, which is a total opposite from liberalism.

Also, don't go after every person you see. If you are on the street and you see a guy or girl wearing a hat that says "Make America Great Again." Don't stop them in the street and challenge them to a debate. There is a right to expression, and those who where those caps are practicing that right, just like those who wear Nazi tattoos, stomp on the flag, burn bibles, and unfortunately fly a confederate flag. And I can tell you the libertarians know basic human rights better then most. Or at least they do if they knew what the term "libertarian" actually means.

So how about before you protest Ben Shapiro to withdraw his invitation to your campus to speak, how about you give the man a chance to speak. You may actually be surprised by what you say. In fact you both might be on the same level.

Respect conservatives okay? They aren't ALL what you think.

P.S.

I would also like to apologize to having no articles up this week. There has been a lot going on but hopefully, with exams out of the way and getting into tune with my work schedule I should be getting an article in for you. It may not be every week, but it should be every few weeks.

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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