It’s Not All Red Or Blue

BY CARMEN DIPIPPO

2020 marks an important milestone for most college students: it’s the first year that the majority are able to vote. With an election year comes more frequent political conversation, and oftentimes, finding ourselves in a place where we don’t know what to think or how to calmly agree to disagree. The situation can get even tenser when this involves people you care about.

Turning 18 in the United States might not seem like a huge milestone; however, the opportunity to vote in any election is something that, for many, is the result of a hard-fought battle throughout history. Voting is all of our civic duty, no matter which side of the aisle you agree with. With this privilege, though, it is important to educate yourself and figure out where you stand on certain issues. While it isn’t necessary to have all the answers at 18, there’s no better time to start.

By the time most of us begin to head off to college, there comes a point where you start to realize and form your political beliefs, often based on life experiences, certain moral values and fiscal opinions. In your hometown, you might have shared similar beliefs to your family members, high school classmates and neighbors, and this makes sense as that is the community you were raised in. Coming to college, that all changes very quickly. Suddenly, you’re in a melting pot of people from all kinds of backgrounds and standpoints on various issues. Whether you enjoy talking politics or not, certain subjects or issues are bound to come up at one point or another, even just in basic or everyday conversation.

Maybe you’re in a class having a structured debate, or topics such as the economy or minimum wage come up at the dinner table. For young adults, navigating what to say when and more importantly, how to say it can be difficult, especially with loved ones or new friends at school. It’s easy to get caught in a rut of wanting to share your opinion, but not wanting to offend anyone or break trust.

Beth Silver and Sarah Stewart Holland are co-hosts of “Pantsuit Politics,” a podcast that is “a real conversation to help us understand democracy and the news while treating each other like thoughtful human beings.” The podcast is values-driven and promotes the dialogue of issues in today’s America. Silver and Holland have opposing political views, yet are able to find common ground and respectfully agree to disagree.

These political experts warn young people to not be so caught up with offending people, but rather focus on learning from each other and respecting differences.

“It’s not that you’ll have a conversation and never offend somebody or you can avoid confrontation. You learn that that can happen, and your relationship might grow stronger in the face of that sort of conflict,” Holland says.

Holland and Silver also encourage young people to not feel pressured into picking a “team,” specifically either Democrat or Republican. At our age, not knowing where you fall or having views that are on both sides is completely normal. While it’s important to start to recognize what your standpoint is on various societal issues, you don’t have to choose between red or blue if you aren’t ready, or ever actually. It is very common for the average American to have views that go back and forth, maybe depending on the circumstance at hand, or because of their own experiences.

Once we can accept that we don’t have to remain loyal to one “team,” this period of our lives becomes a chance to collect information and do our best to stay educated. This can be done through reading the newspaper, watching the news on television and staying up to date with current events in society, whether they directly involve politics or not. It is also important to try and avoid news sources that are strongly biased and get information from many different sources before deciding how you feel.

“Treat this early phase in your 20s as information gathering instead of team picking,” Holland says.

When you officially register to vote, in most states, you’ll have to choose a party, but this really only is crucial for primary elections in most cases. After that, you can pick candidates from both sides, who you feel will do the best job of leading your town, city, state or country, regardless of whether they lean right or left. It is easy in today’s day and age to want to blame one party or another, but at the end of the day, you are voting for the candidate themselves, not the entire party. You can also change your registration at any time if your views shift.

While being respectful and calm during political conversations typically is the way to go, things can shift when someone’s beliefs go too far. For example, if you are a member of the LGBTQ+ community and someone’s politics openly discredit your own worth or belonging, that may be a sign that the relationship is no longer worth pursuing or that a serious and heartfelt conversation is needed.

“If someone has views that fundamentally disrespect your identity, that’s a whole different conversation than someone who has views that don’t cut at your identity but are important to you,” Silver says.

If this idea is applicable, it can be difficult to determine whether or not the person should stay in your life or not; a decision that largely depends on what aspects of your own identity or morals are at play and how severe the disagreement is. Most often, though, it’s a conversation worth digging deeper into, at least a few times.

If you ever feel offended in a politically-based conversation, it’s important to let the other person know how you feel, without getting aggressive or telling them how wrong they are. For example, if someone says that universal health care is an awful idea, but that would take away your own personal health insurance, share that with the other person if you feel comfortable. Putting a face they know and love to the situation isn’t necessarily designed to change their mind, but to see how the issue could affect you personally, rather than just seeing it as a far-fetched idea that doesn’t hit close to home. Or, if you support a stricter border because your family worked hard and spent a lot of time and money to immigrate to the United States legally, your opinions and views on that particular issue are shaped by personal experiences and are often worth sharing.

Political conversations can be a difficult road to navigate, but oftentimes, they are conversations worth having. Maintaining a calm demeanor and drawing on personal experiences are often the most effective strategies to use, especially if you are discussing these topics with someone who has very different views than you. While you might think some views are totally wrong, everyone in the United States is allowed to vote for whoever they choose, and that is the beauty of democracy.