Roxy Hammond

Liberal. Conservative. Democrat. Republican. These words have somehow become as degrading as racial slurs. Why? Because of the election season.

I never thought I would hate being over 18 during an election year. I’m no longer known for my accomplishments, or my personality, or even by name, but rather by who I’m going to vote for this year. (Which, by the way, I’m not going to tell you since half of you will stop reading because of political party differences.)

However, I can assure you that unlike most news channels and professor’s lectures, this column is partisan-free.

The problem I have found with being of voting age, is that I’m expected to keep up on politics. Don’t get me wrong – I read the articles, I watch the debates, but suddenly I’ve found most of my discussions with friends twisting towards politics. This wouldn’t be a problem if it didn’t end in anger and name-calling.

I’m not sure who’s idea it was, but for some reason, political parties have been pitted against each other.

Obviously there are conflicting views of the two, but honestly, why the bitterness? We hate each other’s agendas, the opposing party can’t do anything right, blah blah blah. I don’t even think that half of the people that complain have any idea what the opposing party stands for.

Here’s our problem: We’ve become so concerned with political affiliation that we’ve stopped listening to each other.

The conservatives could say “We love kittens!” and the liberals would scream “conservative agenda! Don’t listen to them!” Or the liberals could say the same thing and experience the same ridicule from the conservatives.

Why? Because we’ve become a labeling society. This is stifling our ability to work together as a TEAM. The idea no longer matters. If it comes from the opposing party, it’s trash. And if it isn’t trash, you try to steal it for your own party to claim.

Power. It’s the name of the game. If liberals get power in Washington, all morals will vanish and hell will break loose. If conservatives are in power, we will see a 1984 in 2004. Right? Or maybe that’s the impression you get from listening to people argue…

We’ve become horses with blinders on. We follow our party without asking why or exploring the ideas of the other parties. If we don’t stop, we’re going to end up walking right into a wall, and it’s not going to be pretty.

Think before the next time you open your mouth and politics comes out. There is no I in team … and there is no Democrat or Republican either. The only way we’re going to survive this year and get anywhere is if we take off our blinders and look around. Both parties have good ideas, let’s change the name of the game from power to compromise.

Roxy Hammond is a sophomore journalism major.

#1.884447:4166095905.jpg:RoxyHammondUsethisone.jpg:Roxy Hammond, Columnist: