"Are you a Democrat or Republican?" This is usually a common question that people get asked, and one that seems particularly invasive. And why is that? Because everyone is so ready to jump down each other's throats about their political beliefs. People literally are verbally assaulted and in extreme cases, physically attacked every day just by voicing their opinions. (I should know, I get so much lash-back from both sides of the political spectrum every time I post something political online…)

Personally, for most of my life I have identified as Democrat, but over the past year, I have officially become a clear Independent. Why is that? Oh, because the Democratic Party has officially gone haywire. I have always been passionate about their fight for social justice, yet the way many Democrats these days are handling any sort of opposition is embarrassing and disgusting. They will go out of their way to make the Republican Party look horrendous, and go to extreme lengths to spin mountains out of molehills.

The Democratic Party is straying away from actually fighting for social rights and equality, and is now only serving to tear down the other side and take part in outlandish demonstrations and propaganda. They are angry and extreme, not a dignified party at all in my opinion. What happened to peacefully fighting for your beliefs? Why are Republicans your enemies? Why is your opinion the ONLY correct opinion? It's literally is as if the Democratic Party has stuck its head in the sand. Their mascot should honestly be changed to an ostrich.

The Republican Party is honestly no better but in different ways. Yes, they have a more low key, Constitutionally-driven manner of conducting themselves, but the way they react to the opposition is deplorable as well. What they have said about the Democratic Party will not help their agenda. They seem closed off to any sort of view that strays from their own. The one thing that really bugs me about this party is how they are so invested in preserving the Constitution and all other governing documents just as they were written almost 300 years ago.

What they don't understand is that America in 2018 is in no way the same as America from the 18thcentury.

I did my undergraduate thesis on the opinions of the Electoral College, which was last reformed in 1804. I studied this voting system through and through. What I came to find was that over half of the people I surveyed said that it needs to either be abolished or updated as a whole. I agree completely. The reason being is that the Electoral College does not allow citizens to directly vote for presidential candidates, rather, they are voting for electors when they go to vote for the president. Yes, you read that right, when you go to the polls every four years to cast your vote for the president, you're really voting for an elector who will represent your candidate.

If enough people vote for a Democratic candidate, for instance, then that state will elect a Democratic elector to represent them. The whole reason Trump won back in 2016 is due to the Electoral votes. If the election had been based on the popular (direct) votes, Hillary would have become president by a landslide.

Think about that for a moment.

This voting system cannot accurately represent the voices of the American people anymore. America is bigger and more populated than it was when the Electoral College was reformed in 1804, and back then, each state had smaller populations and poorly educated citizens. Women and minorities could not vote. Only educated, white male citizens could. Thus, in those days, it made sense to have electors cast the final vote, as it was white males supporting white males. In today's educated, highly populated, and diverse America, we need a system that will fairly represent the voices of the people. Not some document that was written over 200 years ago. How can Conservatives not understand this?

This also goes for the Constitution. Why the Republican Party wants to preserve it just as it makes no logical sense to me. Again, like the Electoral College, it is a document from a completely different society and era. We need to reform it. Keep it and just reform it. Why is that such an issue? We have to accommodate for the America of today, and our governing documents just can't do that anymore.

Honestly, Democrat or Republican aside, how can anyone in this country take a step back and say that our current governing methods are working? The Two-Party System is only being counterproductive. It is hurting America more than it is helping. This is why we need bipartisanship. When the two parties work together, so much gets done. There are strengths in both parties that the other lacks, and if the two could only come together, maybe finally there would be common ground. But no, they are only creating a divide, a hateful, destructive divide.

If we could just come together as a nation and work with the other side, only then could we really live up to our namesake of the "United States", rather than the "Divided States," which we have become.

"United States," pfft, how ironic.