I was recently made aware of an old Facebook status of mine from 2012 (thanks, Timehop). The status expressed my disgust with the American people for electing President Barack Obama to a second term. (I'd post a screenshot of said status, but I deleted it upon reading it.)
Rediscovering that status made me think. I deleted it, almost instinctually, out of embarrassment. And so I began to wonder what had changed in the three years since I thought it was a good idea to post it. I came to the realization that it all had to do with the way I had been brought up: conservatively.
I became aware of politics during the John McCain vs. Barack Obama campaign. I liked McCain. Because my family liked McCain. I would spout rhetoric I had heard around the dinner table, not knowing at all what it meant. But I doubt it mattered, because my seventh grade classmates who liked Obama probably only liked Obama because their parents liked Obama. Fair enough.
My seventh grade history teacher was someone I looked up to and respected quite a lot—enough to briefly make me consider becoming a teacher. When I found out he liked—and had voted for—Barack Obama, I was crushed. I couldn't understand why someone I liked so much could support someone with whom my family so strongly disagreed.
My grandparents only seemed to watch two shows—"Seinfeld" and "The O'Reilly Factor" (only one of which is intentionally funny). The latter is where I learned the word "liberal" to be a curse word. Here is where I learned that there was such a thing as the "liberal media" and "liberal Hollywood." As an aspiring film writer and director, learning that Hollywood was liberal scared me very much. Was I going to become a liberal? Was I already a liberal? Was there a cure? The "Factor" caused me to go into high school with a fear of these liberals, but I trusted my conservative bias would shield me from harm.
It was only this year that I realized my family is conservative. I slowly began to disagree with the arguments they were making. I began to wonder what, exactly, was so evil about this Obama guy. I no longer felt angry or confused about why Jon Stewart was attacking Fox News on "The Daily Show."
High school taught me I wasn't a conservative (or a Republican, for that matter), but not before I could get involved with the 2012 election. I, once again, liked the candidate my family seemed to like. But this election seemed different than the previous one for me. I was older, now. I could do some research and arrive at my own conclusions.
Not quite.
Even though I could Google the difference between Romney and Obama on abortion, for example, I was still unable to distance myself from the Christian-conservative opinions I had heard my whole life.
My stance on abortion changed because of a conversation with my geometry teacher. She gave the radical argument that a woman should be able to choose what she does with her own body. I didn't agree with her at the time (years of "Respect Life" art contests will do that to you), but she had planted a seed of what now seems like common sense to me.
Which brings us to the present day. I've just completed my first year at a fairly liberal college, and I find myself, quite comfortably and naturally, on the left of the political spectrum. I've always loved politics, regardless of where I may have thought I stood on important issues. I love the conversations and debates it forces us to have with one another.
This upcoming election will be the first one in which I am old enough to vote. And while I may not be certain which candidate I'll be voting for as of this writing, I can say with confidence that this will be my first presidential election where I'll be forming my own opinions.
