I go to school at a small liberal arts college in Southern California, keyword being "liberal." Typically, "liberal" arts just means that you aren't specializing in engineering, and that you may go on to graduate school - it doesn't have to do with the political spectrum. Well, that is absolutely not the case at my school, because this college is about as politically liberal as I can imagine. The cat, and the elephant and the donkey, are out of the bag. I confess, I'm not a Democrat or a Republican - I'm just a moderate. Sometimes, I think I'm probably a Libertarian because in my opinion, the less the government interferes with our lives, the better.

It's true, I'm probably biased because I was raised in the conservative "Bible Belt" south, but my family was always relatively liberal for the area. I was raised Catholic, which is often not considered Christian in the south, and my family is pro-choice and pro-LGBT rights. I even tried to start a GSA (Gay-Straight Alliance) at my high school, but the board of trustees shut us down because "it just wouldn't be a good move" - that's code for "all of the churchgoing parents will stop donating to the school if we even CONSIDER having a GSA." So, when college rolled around, I got tired of only being friends with close-minded, judgmental conservatives, and I headed out to California because I was sure I was a "liberal." Boy, was I wrong.

I have figured out that I'm socially liberal and fiscally conservative, and let me tell you why. Back home, my dad is a doctor, and he's very down to earth - he drove the same Camry for 14 years until it broke down on the side of the highway and caught on fire for the third time. Now, he has another Camry. I was telling this story to one of my classmates at the beginning of the year, when everyone was getting to know each other. He promptly responded with, "I don't know your dad, but I don't like rich white people, so I already hate him." This made me furious. My dad grew up with five siblings and almost no money, was the first generation in his family to go to college, and only got to go because he was on a baseball scholarship. For someone to hate my dad solely because he is a white doctor made absolutely no sense.

What's more, at the diversity panel during orientation, an African American girl stood up and shared her story from the other side of the table. "I am so tired of people at this college assuming I'm low income because I'm black," she said. "Both of my parents are surgeons, and it's seriously offensive for everyone to look at me and assume that because I'm black, I'm poor." I realized, after that day and many more experiences the following year, that the Democrats out west are just as close-minded, in many ways, as the Republicans back in the south. That is why I, Megan Rohn, am a moderate - the answer is usually somewhere in the middle, and both sides usually have some validity to their arguments.