I've been into politics my entire life. From a young age, I was fascinated by the news. Currently, I'm one of the most progressive people you could ever meet (even farther left than presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders or Sen. Elizabeth Warren), but I wasn't always that way.

Growing up I heard the same rhetoric from my family over and over again. While I'm sure they believe it wholeheartedly and believe that their views are what is best for our country, when I took a closer look I realized there was something quite off.

The first time I realized the problem with conservative ideology was when I heard my grandfather say something about global warming. He told me that it was a lie made up by the liberal media. When I heard this, I was confused. My science teacher was currently teaching us about global warming and it had seemed scientifically sound to me. In fact, it's so scientifically sound that it is no longer disputed by the scientific community. Global warming is a real threat.

This global warming bombshell released a need in me to do my own research. Until I got to high school, I wasn't really looking up my own facts. I was watching Fox News and listening to my conservative family. I started to really take a look at the patterns of history, what seemed to work best and what did not. It became clear to me that trickle-down economics was not working anymore. Business had become too big, the little guy had become too small. Suddenly, I felt ashamed.

I felt ashamed because I hadn't realized that there were children dying because they couldn't afford healthcare. It had never struck me that maybe areas stricken with poverty were only struck with poverty because there was no way for educational advancement. Even community college was too expensive for some kids living in projects. I lived in Baltimore, it was right under my nose but I chose to be blind.

I began to see the hypocrisy in conservative views. I realized that every debate mentioned Jesus. I knew in my heart that Jesus was not a sound political argument in a country based on separation of church and state. Not everyone was Christian, so why are "Christian" values being used to decide who can get married or if I can have an abortion? They tell us to keep the government out of our lives, but they insert their religion into mine? The hypocrisy is running rampant in the GOP.

Now, I'm not saying that Democratic Politicians aren't hypocrites either, I'm simply talking about platforms. Of course almost every politician is a hypocrite, it's their job.

It depresses me to know that the richest people in America would rather sit there and let children die than to part ways with money that they won't even miss. It makes me sad to look at wealth distribution in this country. It makes me feel ashamed that before forming my own moral code (away from religion and propaganda), I felt that the poor were beneath me because of the conservative cult.

When I came to this school I believed that you had as much as you worked for. When I started interacting with with more people, I started to realize that often their families had been rich for generations. This isn't a bad thing, good for them, but I'm a firm believer that every student should start out on the same playing field after college. We all put in the same work so why are some of us starting with thousands and thousands of dollars of debt, while some of us are starting with the ability to begin living? It just didn't add up.

Another thing that rubbed me the wrong way was the debate on homosexuality (it shouldn't be a debate). As much as conservatives yell about keeping the government out of your business, they really do care about what people do in their bedrooms. Growing up, I had a friend who had two moms. I never questioned it, and they seemed to have a much more stable home than I did (my parents went through a very ugly divorce). Around the time I reached high school, I had been questioning my sexuality anyway. By the time I reached college, I knew I was almost exclusively attracted to women, I still am. Hearing the hurtful things said by people who claimed they did it out of love, well, it seemed like emotional abuse. Praying for people you find "depraved" won't help. Being nice to them and not finding them "depraved" will.

I've given it a lot of thought. I've tried to come back around, but I've grown up. I've grown out of the hate. If I have to give half of my money to the government every year so that an underprivileged kid can go to college, then so be it. I know I'm not a millionaire, nor will I ever be. That's why I support what I support, because I'm not thinking about the hypothetical situation that I fall into heavily taxed brackets. I'm a writer, not a real estate mogul. Writers are very often poor.

Every time I try to engage in discourse with a conservative, I'm given sources such as "bible.net" or "conservativedaily.com". In return, I give them "politifact.com" and studies done by universities and books by professionals. You can't argue with bias, and I have yet to meet a hyper conservative who will spit unbiased facts. The beauty of America is that you are not required to except religion as fact, so I just can't get behind that movement.

I've been called "stupid", "dumb", "moronic", "entitled" and a "koolaid drinking lemming" by people who claim to love me, all because I am not conservative. It's hurtful and these are not the "traditional" values that you want for our country. Name calling and verbal abuse isn't okay, especially when it's for holding an opinion.

This isn't an attack on individual conservatives, but when the rest of the world is either laughing at us or mourning us because of our hate, it's time to change. 70 years ago, minorities couldn't even vote. As Dr.Martin Luther King sat in jail, conservatism called for his permanent imprisonment. This isn't about party affiliation, I know plenty of good, Republicans who aren't prejudiced. The problem comes from the very socially conservative ideology most Republicans and Tea Party members subscribe to. Change is good and it will always come, but it can either come willingly or by force. Progressives choose to change willingly, conservatives are trying to keep certain people down to the point where force will need to be used.

I just find conservative views to be too "me" oriented. A good government should be "we" oriented, for it is "we the people" written into our government's foundation, not "me" the person. We should come before me so that our nation can be brought together. We don't need to be great "again," we are still great, just a different great and different is a cause for celebration.