I would like to begin by saying that I am neither a conservative nor a liberal. I merely embrace views from both sides that I support and reject views that I deem illogical or infuriating. Nonetheless, I am struggling because I am unsure about how to describe my political philosophy, the results for my political philosophy tests vary from time to time, and I do not want to pledge myself entirely to conservative or liberal ideas.Though I began to question my beliefs when I researched Bernie Sanders and his proposals and steadily watched videos from conservative political commentators during the summer, my political identity crisis truly arose towards the end of the 2016 Presidential Election.

This political identity crisis was spurned by all the people who said that there were only two choices for president and that voting third party would either not matter or would help Donald Trump. My political identity crisis also reared its ugly head when my Facebook feed was set ablaze.This was due to Donald Trump’s victory because of my Facebook friends who found it acceptable to target third party supporters because of the supposed white privilege they have which somehow allowed them to vote third party since they would magically be protected from Donald Trump’s America. However, I went from feeling singled out to being ashamed for supporting a third party candidate and worrying about the well-being of my minority peers.

Fast forward a month later, nobody I knew was seriously hurt or threatened. Even so, that did not change my inability to overcome my political identity crisis. That is since after watching videos from conservative political commentators like Steven Crowder and Ben Shapiro, I started to wonder if I was becoming more conservative than liberal. I began to believe that liberals were stifling free speech, that gun control does not work, that abortion is immoral, and that our society is going from embracing diversity to pushing identity politics onto the American people. After thinking about these views, I realized that the reason why that I am experiencing a political identity crisis is because I have elevated the arguments I have entertained to level of absolute truth.

Indeed, some liberals have stifled free speech within the context of academia since DePaul University banned Ben Shapiro from speaking at their campus though those who disagreed with the content of his speeches were the ones who caused security concerns with their protesting at previous speeches he gave and rarely did his supporters cause any problems. However, not all liberals stifle free speech because if that were to be the case, there would be no shows like South Park or Family Guy, which consistently flip the bird at political correctness in all of its forms.As for my stance on gun control, I agree that background checks are necessary to make sure that criminals do not have access to guns, but I disagree with gun control legislation such as restrictions on how much ammunition people can buy since criminals will not follow those laws.In terms of my beliefs on abortion, killing a child before it has a chance to live is wrong but some medical situations require abortion to save the mother.Lastly, though focusing too much on our racial identity can cause division, media portrayal of Hispanics, Asians, blacks, and other minorities should reflect the variety of ways they exist in our society.

Ultimately, the complexities that are associated with our everyday lives is why I am conflicted about my political beliefs.Furthermore, many commentators and politicians on both sides of the aisle simply fail to provide a nuanced set of principles and arguments that cut through the noise and deliver the truth about our times in a way that does not fly over people’s heads.They would rather pander to different demographics or attempt to deliver the same arguments in different packaging. They tell you what you want to hear and what gets the most ratings, shares, likes, or financial contributions.Then, there are commentators and politicians who at least acknowledge their bias and attempt to get to the facts, but their bias prevents them from acknowledging the objective truth.Thus, my political identity crisis will not be solved overnight since it requires a lot of reflection and researching other perspectives. However, if I can achieve this goal, so can anybody else.

http://dailycaller.com/2016/08/01/depaul-universit...