Abortion. Gun control. The media. The economy. Students and youth today are growing more and more invested in and vocal about how the government is dealing with issues like these. People are becoming more aware of how our government works – how money influences decisions being made, how corrupt it can be and more. Today’s political climate hosts through-the-roof tension, and I believe most of it stems from the polarization of political parties. 

I think that now more than ever, conversation is vital for progress. Our divided government is in gridlock, which has been evident in its inability to pass legislation and especially in the government shutdown of December 2018. The fact that the political spectrum is growing more extreme is preventing a middle ground from being met. 

Between media bias, the growing purpleness of Dallas and increasingly politically active youth leaning left, it definitely feels as though the majority of the population is liberal. But Donald Trump still won with 62,983,828 votes in  2016, 46.1% of the popular vote, and according to a 2017 Gallup poll, 24% of Americans identify as Republican (and 42% are Independents). There are a lot of people in this country who are not liberal, and that’s OK. If everyone who lived in the U.S. all believed in the same exact things, it wouldn’t be the pluralist melting-pot society it was meant to be. 

However, in my experience, people who identify as conservatives are quick to be labeled as racists and bigots. This is not OK in 2019, when messages about love and acceptance are preached from every corner of the internet. It’s wrong to label and make assumptions about people. Conservatives are people too – people with beliefs and opinions and families and lives just like everyone else. They deserve to have a voice because everyone deserves to have a voice, but their perspectives are being stifled in today’s political climate. I know some who are literally afraid to say anything in public about their political beliefs in a country that boasts about free speech. 

My mom raised me to always look for other points of view and to always looks for more sides to a story. I feel like no one tries to do this anymore, especially in politics and even more regarding party alignment. 

My name is Kate Haas, and this is The Other Side – a blog that is going to explain the Republican/conservative point of view on a variety of issues and policies through research of party ideology and having discussions with party members. This blog has nothing to do with my own political beliefs, except for the fact that I believe there are multiple valid sides to every story and this side of the political ‘story’ today is being stifled and shunned. I want to help people understand this viewpoint and learn to be more open-minded. Hopefully this will lead to more conversations between Democrats and Republicans, because I believe real conversations like these are the only way our country is going to be able to make compromises and solve problems.