I have definitely been challenged on what I believed to be true and changed my mind. I was once a part of a discussion about broadening our understand by listening to why someone holds the views that they do and it completely changed the way I approach some issues.
My religion is where my biggets political influence comes from. I think a lot of people use their religion to push harmful beliefs. I think people also get really confused with members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. There are a few issues that the church has made a pretty clear stance on and I wish people would do some research. For example, gay marriage. The church came out and said that they are not going to allow gay marriage within the temples, but that doesn’t stop us from supporting and loving our gay brothers and sisters. The church worked with the Utah legislature to pass anti-discrimination housing laws in 2014, which is before gay marriage was legal in America. I think people take what the church says too far. Members of the church use it to justify homophobia and people outside looking inward think the whole church is homophobic and every member is homophobic when it’s just a small part that the church has taken a stance on.
Often in election years, we get really caught up in social issues. The results of this last election were very telling because it seemed like to me Biden would win by a landslide. I was surprised at how close Trump was, which goes to show that people care about LGBT issues, social programs, and things like that. But there is also half of America that is concerned about things like farm subsidies and issues that are more fundamentals of the republican party. We group ourselves into city people and rural people in how we vote. If you live in L.A., your number one issue could be the legalization of recreational marijuana. That could be the only thing that you care about, which is valid if that’s the hill you want to die on. Then take someone from Paragonah, Utah and the only thing they care about is if they are going to have a water pipeline cutting through their farmland. That doesn’t make the legalization of marijuana any less or more important and same with the other way around. The person in Paragonah could have the exact same views as the person in L.A., but the pipeline is just the more important issue to them. It’s not that they are homophobic or racist or anything, they are just more single issue voters. Whereas, the people in big cities are more social issue voters.
TAX RIGHTS
A big issue for me is tax rights which I know sounds boring. I am young and poor and I don’t want to spend all of my hard earned paycheck on taxes so that other people don’t have to work hard. I know that our taxes go towards a lot of awesome social programs, but I think that in a world that some people would have, we would pay much more taxes so that other people don’t have to work hard. I am all for what we have now, but I think that programs like universal free housing are kind of a slippery slope.
EDUCATION
Education is also a big issue for me. When Cory Booker was running for president, part of his platform was to get rid of the education budget. I thought that was absolutely crazy. Our schools are so important and to reduce that budget would just be crazy. I would like to see more of an emphasis on public schools. I think that it is impossible in America to have a job without a high school degree and we are getting to a place where a Bachelor’s degree barely covers it. I think that if more people left high school equipped for the workforce, then the worth of a college degree would be greater and the worth of a high school degree would be greater. People leave high school having no idea how the world works. I think we need to put a greater emphasis on certificates, trade school programs, and more funding to public schools so that everyone has that option to leave school ready for a job. Then they don’t have to feel like college is the only route.
ABORTION
I am a firm believer that abortion is murder. I am not very vocal about it because I know it is an unpopular opinion. I don't want to fight with others and destroy friendships over a difference of opinions that we are likely both so deeply rooted in. We should invest in better sex education, and access to contraception to put an end to it.
LGBTQ+ RIGHTS
I think LGBTQ-identifying people deserve every right I enjoy as a straight person.
RACIAL MOVEMENTS
I seriously do not understand why this is controversial, it's 2020 people! It is unacceptable that it's taken so long and so many people had to loose their lives unjustly to have this conversation. The past few weeks I have researched and read about the experience of others, and tried to learn everything I can to best rid myself of unconscious bias and be a better community member.
FOREIGN POLICY
I took a counter-terrorism class last semester and it changed my world view. We need to be putting a lot more effort towards counter terrorism. No one is pro- terrorism, but a candidates foreign policy plan is definitely something that I take into consideration when I vote. Recently, I was watching a film about Bill Clinton and aside form the Monica Lewinski scandal, one of the biggest things he’s remembered for is just not doing anything with the Rwandan genocide. It’s hard because as the United States, we have the ability to step in and stop these war crimes and atrocities. At the same time, the United States can’t be the babysitter to the rest of the world. I do think foreign policy approach needs to be taken on a case by case basis. I think our foreign policy towards China can’t be the same as our policies toward Central America.
