Lately, as I have done my daily scrolls through Facebook, I’ve noticed a new trend among people my age that involves posting articles and quizzes about politics. Most of these articles, though, are incredibly biased to one party or another. Rather than researching and becoming informed citizens, it seems like most of my Facebook friends who are participating in this trend are letting Southern tradition or pop culture dictate their mentality. While I think it is exciting that it is now my generation’s turn to get involved in our nation’s political system, I feel that many of my peers are taking the wrong approach.
To those who identifying themselves as staunch Republicans or Democrats, I pose these questions: Do you know exactly what they party you are so invested in stands for? If so, are you ready live by the principles set by the party? Also, do you believe that everything the other group stands for is completely wrong? I have a feeling that, if answered honestly, most people would say no to most of these questions.
We are entering a very pivotal time in our lives. We finally get to take part in fixing the political system that our parents and other adults have complained about our entire lives. So, why would we let our parents’ thoughts and feelings, societal pressure, or any other will of those who have come before us influence the decisions that we make? Yes, I will concede that we should respect our parents’ thoughts and maintain the morality that we were raised with, but our parents and those who raised us are part of the generation that helped create this “broken political system.”
In our lives, we have seen partisan tendencies of American citizens tear this nation apart. This is our time to come together and let reason drive this nation. We should not cling to one party or another and cause more animosity; we should strive to be good citizens and try to understand one another’s points of views. For every hypothetical or real incident one party can bring up to shame the other, there is one for the other party to use in return. There is no way to make America perfect or to have everyone agree on everything, but there has to be a better way to handle things than what we have now.
So, I would like to challenge all of my Facebook friends to replace these posts bashing one political party or the other with posts that could actually help solve problems in our nation. Also, to those who are still in high school or will be soon, pay attention in history class and observe the mistakes Americans have made in the past so that we can help prevent making them again in the future. Most of all, I challenge you to take time to discover who you are and what you believe in. This way, our generation has more victories than mistakes go down in history and we can prove to our parents that we aren’t the half-wits they think we are.
By: Mary Kate Holladay
