For my family, pretty much any get-together turns into a conversation about politics. I know this is similar for many families, but my family has views from all sides: Bernie supporters, Trump supporters, and everything in between.

This past weekend for Easter, political conversation was very popular among my family, per usual. With my family being naturally loud and opinionated, some interesting discussions came up. Foreign policy, terrorism, religious freedom, and women’s health were the most popular topics of the weekend. Even though we all have different viewpoints, we still listen and talk about each other’s opinions like adults because we respect each other.

A lot of the times, this is not the case. I go to a Liberal Arts school in the middle of Texas, so there is a very wide array of opinions among my peers. I find this super enjoyable. I love discussing opinions about topics from all sides of the spectrum, but some of my peers don’t feel the same way. I have seen one too many instances where people get in heated arguments that turn disrespectful very quickly. I don’t know if this problem stems from how separated the parties are nowadays, or from how politicians act when they disagree with someone, but it needs to change. I believe that our nation is suffering, not because of the politicians in office, but how these politicians interact with each other; Congress is so divided that they cannot seem to get anything done.

I believe the change that needs to happen among the politicians in Washington starts with us as Americans. We all live in the same country and, for the most part, we all want similar things. This hatred of Democrats if you’re Republican and vice versa is only hurting our values. Having conversations about politics is great. It allows for people to open their eyes to viewpoints they may not have thought of before. Whereas conversations about politics get disrespectful when one person (or group of people) thinks their opinion is superior to the other's.

We all need to show a little more respect and a little more understanding when dealing with those with different views. If we as a nation work on this, we will see serious change in how our country is run.