If you haven’t heard, we’re in an election year, and while to many that means openly evaluating the next leader of the free world, along with countless state and local ballot measures and candidates, to most it’s an exercise in down the ticket voting. That is unifying a single ballot behind one party’s candidates and agenda. Now as previously stated, this isn’t always true, it used to be much less prevalent, and the last decade has seen a stark shift in how we treat politics in our personal lives. How’s the old saying go? Something along the lines of don’t discuss sex, religion, or politics at the dinner table. Nevertheless, personally and nationally I’ve witnessed the shift take hold, empowering people to believe that their way of thinking is correct, their experiences are the only legitimate ones, and that their morality should be legislated upon others, save the fact if it harms anyone. I’m not here to beat you over the head with another deep dive into political polarization, because you know I already did that and you can read it here. However, I would like to discuss the idea that YOU (and by you I mean, you, me, everyone) are not always right, and believe it or not there is validity and levels of truth in the thoughts of someone that believes the exact opposite as you.

Now look there are somethings that are not exactly opinion (once again if you’d like further explanation on this topic you can check out one of my previous articles here), for example global warming is real, Hillary Clinton deleted her emails, and Donald Trump was explicitly racist in his comments toward Judge Curiel. Congrats America, you chose these two (don’t blame me, I voted for Bernie). However most policy ideas come from a place of experience and opinion.

I sympathize with both the conservative Republican and the liberal Democrat experience. As I was raised in a Christian home by two conservative parents. My grandpa watched Hannity and Limbaugh, and my great grandma once said, “Why would I vote for a democrat?” I also have been at a university for the last four years, albeit a private Christian school, but class discussions along with my involvement in the hyper-liberal activity of debate have given me a new perspective and an ability to look at a problem from multiple intersections. This duality of experience can be seen best through my opinion of President Obama. Back in high school, the uninformed Zac living in his echo chamber thought Obama was the worst, and like much of the alt-right, I believed him to be tearing America down from the inside. To put is simply, I was dumb and uninformed. Over the last four years, I’ve learned a lot, and these years have helped me come to the conclusion that Obama? Solid president, above average, but not without his flaws.

My point of all these words is to say that far too few people are willing to interrogate their own beliefs. People are stuck in fixed mindsets (now before you say anything Dad, I know it’s a loose application of the actual term). Some of that comes from an unwillingness to confront truths folks were raised with, issues of marriage equality, a woman’s right to choose, and race relations, can sometimes be issues to charged for someone to rationally discuss and listen to an opposing view on. However, issues of military, economy, government size and encryption are defended just as vehemently as each party just regurgitates the buzz word from their favorite echo chamber, whether that be Jon Stewart or Tomi Lahren.

Look everyone, I’ve got news for you; your experience isn’t the only valid one, and often times our opinions are formed from a place of privilege. If you aren’t actively working to engage in discussion by listening then you’re part of the problem. If you spend your life inside the echo chamber of media (i.e. Facebook) and unfriend / turnoff dissenting opinions than Hillary and Trump become the norm, not the exception. The truth far often falls in the middle than to one side of the spectrum.