Oh, politics...

As the cliche goes: opinions are like assholes-- everybody has one, and most of them stink. This is especially true with politics. Even as I type these letters, I hear protests proclaiming me a hypocrite. After all, I’ve built my entire account around political writing.

The one thing that frustrates me with politics is that many neglect to even consider the arguments of those with differing opinions. Even those who pretend they have no bias are guilty to some extent. I’m guilty of this myself, probably more than I’d like to admit (this goes for the majority of what I’m going to say, so this is the last time I’ll point it out.) Being rooted in a belief system or moral code is not always bad, however refusing to change in the face of irrefutable evidence is plain ignorance.

There is no perfect solution. That likely doesn’t shock anybody reading it, but it is still a fact that people ignore more often than they should. Every option has trade-offs. In D.C. the business is to decide which trade off is worse, which is often a matter of opinion rather than fact. An example of this is the issue of border security. On one side of the debate, there is a high value placed on humanitarianism and compassion. The other side places a high value on the safety of those who are already citizens and nationalism. Neither side is wrong, per se, but believe with their heart that the other is.

I am quite young, which to some makes my opinion invalid. This is especially true in the realm of politics. Many people have informed me I haven’t lived long enough to know about these things. In some ways, they aren’t wrong. I’m young enough to be an idealist. For a period of time I considered myself to be a socialist. I later realized that socialism is impractical and only truly works on paper, but that's irrelevant. Currently I’m still figuring out my economic beliefs, based on my moral code and sense of logic. I think that is actually a benefit to my writing. It means I don’t come in with a bias, and I come with a thirst to learn.