I will never understand why people get so upset when others start talking about politics. Yes, it often leads to arguments. No, it may not always follow the rules of proper etiquette or polite small talk. What in that adds up to mean that politics are not worth talking about?

If there is anything that every citizen should feel free to discuss — and right now it seems like most people are (woot election year) — it should be our collective future. Whether it is in electing our future president, our congress men and women, or just our state and local representatives, this is something that influences all of us. It doesn’t just influence in the minor ways that nobody would really care about either, but in major capacities: heath care, education, war. The representatives that we are choosing in these elections are the ones who will be making all of these decisions for our future, so I’m sorry if you really don’t want to hear about politics. I’m going to talk about them because it’s something that affects ALL of us.

I think that we all have those friends who immediately go straight faced the second that we bring up any given political topic. I don’t even have to be referencing the current presidential election — no mention of Hillary or Trump or even Johnson. It could just be a current issue going on somewhere in the world.

Radio: “And in today’s local news, a local pig farmer overdosed on heroin this morning….”

Me: “Wow that sucks. Heroin is becoming way too common.”

Friends: “Can we not talk about this, please? I don’t want to get into it.”

Yes, because if we don’t talk about the hard issues, then they will just go away, right? Heroin is not a nice thing to talk about so really it should just never be mentioned, right? The national debt will just fall off too if we pretend it’s not there. The racism or gender prejudices as well.

Who would want to talk about those things? Um… shouldn’t we all?

I could be totally off base here. Maybe these are things that people think about solutions for while they are lying in bed at night attempting to solve all of the world’s problems, and they don’t just look past these major issues. Maybe they do secret research in the middle of the night on Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton rather than just assuming voting down party lines will give them some valuable insight and loyalty. Maybe these people who hate politics just don’t want to talk about things that make them sad, which is totally understandable. But just because a conversation is hard or doesn’t fit into the perfectly mundane and typical small talk, does not mean it is something that should not be discussed. In fact, I would argue the opposite.

I’ve never really been the type of person who has been afraid to step on toes during conversations. People who know me well consistently tell me that I am too blunt, but I would rather be honest and have the world know what I think than keep my mouth shut and feel like I did not do everything possible to try and make this country a better place. We should all be discussing these major issues in order to find the best solutions.

I’m not saying that we should all get angry at one another and throw fits when someone disagrees with us — that is not at all the goal. Arguments for the sake of arguments, or working to divide people or polarize the country even more, is definitely not what we should be going for. Instead we could try becoming educated on the issues; we could try forming our own opinions. We should be able to have adult discussions about the problems facing our world. If we have everyone’s opinions, then maybe we have a shot at making more people happy with the outcomes, and even the results of a certain issue don’t come out the way that you had hoped, at least you can feel satisfied knowing that your voice was heard, and that more people out there can make their own informed opinions on that issue.

I know that I do not have all of the answers; I’m not a politician or a businessperson or exceptionally adept at military strategy. But that is what these conversations are for. We will not learn if we don’t talk about politics, and we should never feel afraid or worried to talk about the hard topics that influence us. Politics are not just the actions of corrupt people high up in the government or business world — they aren’t just memes that we can pass around and laugh at, or the things that certain people get sick of hearing about.

Politics are every public affair, every representative, and ever interaction that we make with another country. These are issues that truly matter; ones that influence our everyday lives and the future of our country. So, I guess I’m not really sorry if my talking about it offends you or annoys you. I’m not going to shut up about the issues that I care about because if I do then nothing will ever change. Just maybe, you should want to talk about politics too.