More than ever before, I noticed a political war of words and beliefs. Maybe it's because most presidential elections occurred when I was a child, or too young to truly understand how politics affect myself, the American people, and the rest of the world. I am inclined to believe that it is because there had never been such an intense dynamic in a presidential campaign. But what I really notice, and continue to see, is a certain word being dragged through the dirt:

Yes. There is a generalization about Liberals that paints us as horrible people who are ignorant, overly-sensitive snowflakes who need God, believe that murder is okay, and condone terrorism and illegal immigration. There's a belief that Liberals are going to be the destruction of our country, and we're angry about stupid stuff. And while there are Liberals out there who riot and are violent and cause destruction of public or personal property (which most Liberals, including myself absolutely do not condone or agree with), that could not be any further from the truth. So let's talk about why Liberals are not horrible people.

First of all, what is a Liberal if it's not an uneducated triggered snowflake? Well, by definition, a Liberal is somebody who believes in government action to achieve equal opportunity and equality for all. It's the duty of the government to alleviate social problems and protect civil liberties and our individual and civil rights. What this means is that all we want is equality for all, also known as egalitarianism. It is impossible to comprehend how someone who wants every human being to be safe and to have all the same rights could possibly be considered a bad person. Allow me to address some of the arguments I have observed:

"Liberals support abortion. They support murder!"

No. We do not support murder. In fact, a lot of us would not personally get an abortion ourselves. What we support is the right for a woman to decide what happens with her body. We want the government to provide funding for abortions for women who cannot afford them because women have the right to affordable, safe and legal abortions, just like everybody else has a right to affordable, safe and legal medical procedures of other types. Not all sex happens by choice, and not all terminated pregnancies are because the woman doesn't want the baby. Sometimes the pregnancy is life-threatening to the mother so emergency termination is necessary. Continuing to refuse funding for and/or making abortion illegal will never stop abortion. All it will do is stop safe and legal ones, and could result in a rise in back-alley fatal abortions.

On this same note, our support of Planned Parenthood is not solely based on our support of legal abortion. In fact, only 3% of their provided services per year are abortions. PP provides so many other services (listed below) and defunding it takes these services away from the American people.

"Liberals don't want to pay for anything. They expect everything to be free and handed out to them."

False. What we expect is for our government to protect its citizens from the greed of big businesses. It is because of big money, the 1%, that economic life for the American people is as big of a mess as it is. Do we think that it is ridiculous how high taxes are and wish they were lower? Duh! But what our biggest issue is, is that billionaires and the rich do not pay their taxes at an equal rate as the rest of America. If the middle class has to pay high taxes, then why do the upper class get to pay small amounts or get tax breaks?

"There's nothing wrong with the education system. Teachers are paid enough / too much."

Oh boy. Nope. There is a lot wrong with the education system, and educators are not paid enough. One fact that a surprising number of people seem to disagree with is that public schools are the best way to educate students. Because of this, the government should focus additional funds on existing public schools and raising teacher salaries. Here is a map of how much teachers are paid in the United States:

Now here is a map of the livable wages of each state:

Teachers are barely making a livable wage. Also, most of the supplies in a classroom are paid for out of teacher's pockets because of the lack of better funding. Between having to pay for classroom needs and paying for their home life and supporting a family, the salaries of teachers are actually pretty poor, the school systems need to be improved, and the government needs to pay more attention to education.

"These Liberals made up Global Warming and Climate Change. It's hot in July and snows in December, global warming does not exist."

Wrong. Climate change and global warming are very much real. This isn't so much of a matter of Liberal belief because belief doesn't matter when something so clearly exists. However, politically, Liberals seem to be the grand majority of people who choose to trust science and acknowledge that science proves that climate change is real. Check out this graph that shows the yearly temperature from 1900 to 2016:

And there used to be funding to help climate change issues, but that funding has been depleting rapidly over the past 5 years.

The fact is, global warming is real, it is caused by humans, and it's going to take humans to fix it. And it needs to happen before it is too late, and that means that more people need to accept that science is truth.

"Liberals want to take away our guns! That's against the 2nd Amendment and is unconstitutional!"

Wrong! Here's the thing about the 2nd Amendment, which states: "A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

What it actually means is this: Yes, you have the right to own a gun as long as you are a citizen in good standing. However, it was written because the Founding Fathers did not want a standing army or to provide for it within the Constitution. So, they expected the citizens to form militias and defend the country with their own weapons when necessary.

As Liberals, we don't want to take anyone's guns away. What it is that we do want is a more firm enforcement of the gun regulation guidelines so then the above mentioned citizen in good standing can own their guns under certain stipulations. These regulations are necessary because the lenience of gun laws with the ability to buy them at gun shows, etc. makes it more possible for people who have no business owning a gun to have one, such as ex-cons or people who are high-risk due to mental illness. Also, these regulations would keep people from owning assault rifles or anything that is beyond what you can reasonably defend yourself or hunt with, because honestly, what civilian needs an assault rifle?

"Liberals and their precious ObamaCare that screws everyone over. They don't care about a good health care system."

Uh, yes we do. In fact, we support free or low-cost health care and the equal health care benefits for all regardless of their ability to pay. When it comes to ObamaCare, believe it or not, even us Liberals can admit that there are flaws in it and that it is not perfect. But damn, show us a health insurance that is completely perfect and flawless. The fact is everybody's needs are different, both health-wise and socioeconomically. For this reason, ObamaCare helps some and doesn't so much help others. That's how all health insurances are. That's why ObamaCare was created in the first place! Here is a list of ways that ObamaCare is beneficial:

Again, we recognize that there have been flaws with this system, but that does not mean it does not work well and benefit people. It is at least a step toward the health care system that we all as Americans deserve.

"They just want to let those terrorists in to attack our country!"

Okay, really? This is a topic that gets us into the most intense arguments with those on the right. We absolutely do not condone terrorism, for one thing, and the fact that anyone can imply that based off of our beliefs when it comes to Homeland Security is just awful. Here's the thing: Terrorists do not fit a profile! Terrorism is an act, and any person that can commit that act is then a terrorist. It is not a race of people. It is not a religious sect. It is an act of terror. Here is a pie chart of recently updated terrorism statistics from the FBI:

Now since the main concern when it comes to the topic of terrorism is Muslim, look here. Muslim extremists only take up 6% of all terrorist attacks. Also, 90% of terror attacks carried out in the United States were done so by people (of all races, religions, and genders - though mostly male) with U.S. citizenship.

Again, we do not condone terrorism. We find it just as horrific as everybody else and want our country to be safe and secure. However, we also believe that passenger profiling is wrong. Using criteria such as ethnicity is discriminatory and offensive. Random selections at airports should actually be random, and this nation needs a better grip on the reality of terrorism, because when all Muslims are viewed as horrible terrorists but all white terrorists are viewed as mentally ill lone wolves who snapped one day, it is both socially damaging racially and with respect to the stigma around mental illness.

"Liberals want to keep the illegals in, and they're bringing in crime and stealing our jobs. They need to be deported if they are not legal here!"

Okay, time for the conversation about Liberal beliefs on immigration. Ready?

We support LEGAL immigration.

First of all, a little Fun Fact: Undocumented citizens can live as such in the U.S. for six months before they are required to obtain legal citizenship. So not all undocumented immigrants are illegally here.

Immigration is such a complex topic with so many laws, and it's confusing so everyone has so many different beliefs. The general Liberal belief is that America should be open to immigrants. After all, our nation was built by immigrants. Native Americans were here first until white Europeans started settling here, and bringing over slaves from Africa, eventually evolving to people from all over the world immigrating her and that is why our country is as diverse as it is. America was always a land of opportunity. We are a country which, despite its many issues, has many more privileges than most countries in the world. We are not a war-torn country, people aren't executed for being who they are. Many like to argue that if people don't like America so much, then they can leave. Well, that's a thing called immigration. And that is why we get immigrants. People don't like living in carnage, surrounded by war, or living poorly, or in oppression. So they come here to a land of promise. Unfortunately, they're greeted with unwelcoming attitudes and racist rhetoric. And that is unacceptable.

Religion.

Surprise! Liberals support the freedom to practice any religion. To prevent delving too deeply into a long rambling rant, here's some condensed arguments:

1. "We shouldn't have to cater to [Muslims] by having mosques in this country." - Okay, so then how do you feel about Jewish synagogues, Catholic cathedrals, Orthodox temples, and all of the other religions' places of worship?

2. "We are a Christian nation and it needs to stay that way! We need to bring God back to the White House!" - First of all, America was not founded as a Christian nation, and the proof is in the Constitution itself. It was actually founded on Protestantism. Diversity has greatly expanded since our nation's founding. The number of Jews has increased, and more Muslims are living in America than ever before, and many Americans say they have no religious faith or identify themselves as atheists, agnostics or Humanists. According to some scholars, over 2,000 distinct religious groups and denominations exist in the United States. Also, even though most Americans identify as Christian, this doesn't mean they would back official government recognition of the Christian faith. Christian denominations disagree on points of doctrine, church structure and stands on social issues. Many Christians take a moderate or liberal perspective on church-state relations and oppose efforts to impose religion by government action.

3. "We need to bring prayer back into schools. Bring back the Pledge of Allegiance" - First of all, the Pledge of Allegiance never included God. The original Pledge went like this:

"I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

And it was written that way with the hope that it could be used in any country. "Under God" didn't even get put in until Flag Day of 1954. Prayer should be left out of the school system because not everyone shares the same religious beliefs. As much as we embrace the act of welcoming many different cultures and religions, prayer should be kept away from school because in this case it is solely Christian prayer being discussed. Not everyone is Christian so it just outcasts those who aren't to require prayer in school.

It is also hypocritical to say that a Muslim praying in public or wherever is shoving religion down people's throats and needs to stay in the home or place of worship. Yet you can find Christians praying anywhere, and wanting to enforce Christianity and God and prayer in school or in the White House. To be blunt: If it upsets you to see a Muslim praying in public settings but you want to enforce Christian prayer in public settings, then it reflects where your opposition is rooted.

Last but not least:

"Marriage is sacred and should only be between a man and a woman. We have the right to turn away gays from businesses because of our beliefs."

Before I go into this, I just want to throw it out there that statistically, gay marriages are more successful than straight marriages by a long shot!

Here's the Liberal standpoint: Equality. People are going to love who they love, therefore everybody has a right to marry whoever they want to marry. And there are actually laws that prohibit discrimination against people for their sexual orientation, and is currently being worked on for gender identity. Transgender people should be allowed to use the bathroom that fits with their gender identity, and there should be more gender-neutral bathrooms.

Also, someone's sexual orientation is NOT a choice! It all has to do with how the brain is wired, and people are attracted to natural pheromones. (Personal note - I learned this when I conducted a test to see if people could smell someone's topical Testosterone cream, and only the gay/bisexual men and the straight/bisexual women could smell it. It's actually pretty cool).

The hate crimes need to end and the equal rights and acceptance need to rise more!

CONCLUSION!!!

Liberals believe in equality for everybody, the safety of our nation, welcoming and embracing people from all cultures and religions, a good healthcare system, protection of the planet, a good economy, better education, better gun regulations for the sake of safety, and overall tolerance. How in the world does that make us terrible people?

Here's the answer: It doesn't.