Opinion: A moderate problem

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Photo by Spencer Carey, The Campus Ledger
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Margaret Mellott

Sports editor

mmellot1@jccc.edu

Moderates: wishy-washy, can’t make up their minds, don’t really know what they want.

This is what we’re all taught, right? You have to belong to one party and if you even think you don’t agree with every single idea from your party, you’re villainized for not being a “real” democrat, republican, libertarian, etc.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but please listen to what I have to say.

There should be nothing wrong with believing in ideas from any party. Many people, whether they realize it or not, have beliefs that don’t always coincide with their affiliated party.

The world is full of grey space, but when it comes to politics, there’s so much pressure for it to be black and white. Either you’re liberal or you’re conservative and you 100 percent align with every issue, candidate and idea the party comes up with.

However, the reality is much different. Most people tend to be more in the middle, but that begs the question: who’s representing them?

The answer: no one. It’s hard to blame this on politicians because it’s their job to represent the ideals of the people in their party and not themselves, but when many Americans are in the middle, there needs to be some kind of representation.

In a study done by the Pew Research Center, only 13 percent of those surveyed were core conservatives and 16 percent were solid liberals. That means everyone else in between, or in this “grey area,” has some moderate qualities. Even if they don’t think so.

I am not the only person in this “grey area” that’s not being represented and by no means am I the minority. But, not everyone has exactly liberal ideals. Not everyone is 100 percent conservative. It’s astonishing that people think good moderate representation is libertarians or independents; it’s not.

I understand this gets tricky. There are so many different topics and ideas that can be represented differently. Which is why I think more moderate politicians should be accepted. Even if they aren’t representing the ideals of their affiliated party.

We need to be more forgiving of the politicians who are more in the middle of the political spectrum. We need to stop telling people that exist in the middle they need to make up their mind or to stop being wishy-washy. We know what we believe, even if you don’t agree.

For example, you’d think with all of these mass shootings that people would wake up and realize something, literally anything, needs to be done. I agree with liberals — something needs to happen to prevent these shootings. However, I agree with conservatives in that I support the second amendment and gun control isn’t the answer. There shouldn’t be anything wrong with that, it’s my opinion and it’s not wishy-washy.

I’m so tired of hearing that I must not really know what I want because I do know. I know exactly what I want and I want there to be more representation for people who exist in the middle.

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