Broadside Opinion

By Justin Lalputan, Staff Writer

To start with, politics are not something that I usually get involved in. Sure, I’ll have a friendly debate with someone about abortion or stem-cell research, but I generally don’t involve myself with either the Republican or the Democratic political parties. However, I must say that I don’t like what I see on the news these days.

Since the Republicans lost the 2008 presidential election, they’ve seemed like a political party that didn’t have their feet on solid ground.

I’ve watched numerous rallies, the most notable being the “Tea Party” rallies, and I can sense somewhat of a change stirring within the party.
The thing is, when people see these rallies, they scoff at the people in them, and in many cases, call them ignorant.

While it is true that sometimes some foolish things are said at these rallies, in other instances, the things mentioned are not foolish at all; rather, they simply reflect the ideology of the Republican Party and its constituents. While I understand that sometimes these views can be somewhat intense, the Republican Party needs to find some way to gain more popular support, and they need to do it now.

I’ve noticed a growing trend since high school, but now that I’m in college, I simply can’t stand to hear some of the talk that I listen to almost every day.

Whether it’s my friends, random people I hear while walking around campus or even people in my classes, a large portion of them tend to bash people who support the Republican Party. I’m not a Republican, but this does anger me.

Why would you go out of your way to dislike someone, simply because they have different political beliefs than you do? I’m not saying all liberals are like that; in reality, there are a lot of people who have liberal tendencies who are respectful of other ways of thinking. But there are a lot of people out there who don’t think that way.

I went to the Obama rally that was held here not too long ago and what I saw amazed me. It was almost scary the way that Obama could control the crowd. People were cheering so loudly that I doubt half of them were even paying attention to anything that he said.

If anybody had something negative to say, they were immediately booed and removed from the arena. Granted, actually going into the Patriot Center and protesting the president may not have been the smartest move, but even when the protesters made valid points, they were never met with any intelligent rebuke.

Rather, I heard people say things like, “Republicans suck” or “Obama forever.”

I’m going to say right now, this is not what we need. I remember the day that the Democrats lost their supermajority — I was actually happy, but others were sad. I think that’s ridiculous. There is a reason why we have two parties and not one; we need a balance of ideals.

A government and a society that are solely controlled and influenced by the Democratic Party is not a place that I want to be in. Once again, I’m an independent, but I realize the value of having strong Republicans alongside strong Democrats.

When I talk to people while walking around places — not just our liberal college campus — I see that people are starting to think of the Republican Party as a joke. They disregard everything that the Republican Party says, even if it makes sense.

I start to worry that I’m going to wake up to an America that has almost no dissenting opinion to the will of the Democrats who are in power.

Then I watch TV and I feel more hopeful. I see people coming out to support things like the “tea parties” that the Republicans host. I’m not for either political party, but when one starts getting too powerful, I get worried.

As much as I hate to admit it, what America needs right now is not for Democrats to gain more power or for everything to go their way. We need for the Republican Party to regain its strength and stability.

This way, instead of having one strong party and one struggling one, we have two parties that are both strong and that can help guide our nation to a brighter future.