I recently read an Odyssey article, "Stop Complaining About How Hard It Is To Be A Millennial Republican", that centered around Republicans complaining about how hard it is to be a Republican in today's political climate. The irony of an article that directly complains about other people complaining was not lost on me, but I think it deserves a response.

Actually, I cannot say that it "deserves" anything, because this type of ignorance and generalization truly should not even be given any thought or regard. But, considering a substantial number of people actually seem to agree with it, I wanted to provide it a few corrections.

Let me start by confirming that I, a strong conservative college student entering her sophomore year at Georgia Southern University, did not meet a single student on campus during my first year at college whose views came seriously close to aligning with my own. In fact, I would say that the closest candidate to meeting my beliefs would have been a good friend that I made during my second semester who considers himself to be Libertarian, that I would personally say after more than a few political discussions with him, leans a little to the right (however, he will probably read this and may argue against that). That is not to say that no one I met was actually Republican, just that none of them were open enough about it to let me know that directly, or that the opportunity never presented itself in conversation. I will say, however, that I met more openly liberal students than I can count. I also will say that not every one of those liberal students accused me of being a racist bigot. I am not ignorant enough to say that, nor do I tend to victimize myself by that sort of exaggeration. But there were a few. Maybe more than a few. And that does not include the Twitter-warriors who love to scream "RACIST WHITE SUPREMACIST SELF-HATING HOMOPHOBIC SEXIST XENOPHOBE" at me the second I post something that involves my beliefs. They're a joy. I don't think I need to add charts and graphs and cite my sources to state that within the millennial generation, liberals are the majority.

Now then, all that I will say to address the Trump-hating aspects of these articles I'm writing about is that yes, I am a Republican, and regardless of who is in office, I will still claim to be, because the traditional beliefs of the party itself tend to be the ones I align with. I support a small government, lowered taxes, and yep, you guessed it, I'm pro-life. With that being said, President Trump is not who I would have hand-picked to run this country. I do not agree with everything he says or does. Had I been allowed to cast the single deciding vote on who would be president out of every man and woman in the world, I probably would not have chosen him. However, whether or not you like it or believe the same way I do, I still believe there is a reason God put him in the position he is in. And whether you're a Bible-thumping Christian or a die-hard Atheist, if you are an American citizen who is reaping the benefits of living in our country (and if you live here, and you're reading this article on your iPhone or on a computer, then you are benefiting, whether or not you are willing to admit it), the President of the United States still deserves your respect. I did not align with President Obama's beliefs, but I still respect him as a person and as the former President of the United States. He was a fantastic father and husband and had a likable personality. Just because I would not choose to lead the country the same way that he did does not mean that I automatically have to slam him with disrespect and hatred. Take notes.

Furthermore, we can sit here and argue about things like abortion all day and we will never reach a conclusion because if you are pro-choice, we probably will never agree on whether or not an unborn baby should be considered to have life, and that is the key factor in the argument. But you cannot claim that an unborn baby does not have life any more than I can claim that it does. We are entitled to our own beliefs. My belief that conception constitutes life, and that no one should be able to dictate the outcome of that life, including the woman carrying it, does not make me sexist. Considering I AM a woman and I support equality between the sexes, I truly do not understand how that could make me sexist. Actually, the fact that women have the option to decide whether or not their unborn child will live, but men do not, is, in itself, a tad bit sexist.

In addition, don't think for a second that I do not know that there are Republicans who are sexist and homophobic and racist. I'm not stupid. But the fact that they exist does not make me one, no matter how badly you want to tell me that I am. I'm pretty sure I know myself better than you do. Plus, I can specifically argue each of those accusations if you would like. For instance, the other very close friend that I made this year is lesbian. I will not attach her name because I do not want to drag her into this, but if I could do so respectfully, I would allow each of you to ask her yourself whether or not I am homophobic. I highly doubt she would be friends with me if she thought I was.

It also never ceases to amaze me that the members of the political party who are known to be so quick to fight against stereotypes and generalizations are so quick to stereotype and generalize the entire party that opposes them. A little hypocritical, don't you think?

I'll close by saying this: If you want to call me a greedy, homophobic, sexist, racist, xenophobic white supremacist, then by your same token, I can call you a lazy, man-hating, minority supremacist murderer. You and I both know that probably isn't what you are, but it's the exact same concept.