It is worth noting that the author of this article  is a socialist-leaning voter and so the following article is more of a reflection of interviews conducted from May to June 2017.

“If you’re not a liberal when you’re 25, you have no heart.” John Adams reportedly said this back in the late 1700s, just after the American revolution.

Now, more than 200 years later, many young people still adhere to the same principles. Fighting with older ‘conservative’ adults or parents is incredibly common currently, with people getting more and more political at younger ages than ever before. Most young people, by the time they hit college (a whopping 60% ) are democratic or liberal leaning, 23% are unsure of their political alignment and 17% of students are republican/conservative, a 2017 Harvard Politics study finds.

The majority of college professors, too, are more liberal than conservative. According to a 2012 study, the liberal to conservative ratio of college professors is 5:1 across North America (Canada, Mexico and the US included).

Students being Liberal “make a lot of sense”, according to Janice, a 21-year- old Torontonian Ryerson student who I spoke to about being a political college student:

“ “We’re all more or less looking for a better future, right? So we have to get together and band together against the things we don’t like seeing.” Janice tells me, saying that now more than ever her politics is focused more on just what she believes, but mobilizing others to agree with her.

“Do you see yourself in the future with politics?”

“I’m a psychology major, so not really.” She says, laughing.

Across the pond – lake, really – at the University of Michigan, Jonas, a 19-year-old engineering student from Montgomery, Alabama, was raised conservative, and never really got out of it.

“I don’t feel like I need to defend myself and my beliefs in front of people, but I’m often asked to. A lot of people stop talking to me or calling me racist or an a**hole because I tell them that I’m conservative.”

What’s become more of an issue for students like Jonas is that they’re supposed have such an space around them that’s been designed by other students, but because of their political views, they feel like an outsider in a lot of cases.

“To me, it’s like I because I disagree with some of the views that they have, I’m not allowed to be safe as I learn. I didn’t come to college for my views to be challenged, I came here to become a doctor and then help some people.” Says Alessandra McNamara, who allowed me to use her full name for the record. “I’m female, I’m young, and for some reason those two things don’t allow me to be political the way I “should be”. In college, you’re supposed to have a voice… and I guess, yeah, like, you do but… You have a voice in college, but now it has to be the right one- your voice needs to be saying the same thing as everyone else or you’ll be isolated.”

"I’ve had beers thrown at my head, and I’ve been kicked out of parties and forced out of classrooms, especially last November.” She remarks, remembering when she said that she voted for Trump last year she was ignored by most of most of the people she thought of as friends on campus. 

“If you align yourself with someone who wants to put me in harm’s way and single me out because of who I am, I don’t want to be around you.” biology major and 24-year-old Allyssia says from Pace University in New York. “It makes sense to me.”

Back in Canada, the political spectrum are less extreme, but expression is not. Most young Canadians are liberal-leaning, and shape their political understanding around the American two- sided spectrum. The difference is, Canadians tend to be more open-minded" “It’s their opinion and what they believe, doesn’t mean what they believe in is always right, though. It’s important to see both sides of the argument.” says Lyn, an 18 year-old from Toronto, Canada. 

In Canada, being conservative is very different from being conservative i the US.  "I feel like Canada has a soft form of conservatism, we’re less left-and-right the way the ‘States are, y'know?“ That’s from Lisa, a 20-year-old UTSC student of biology. 

And she’s correct. In Canada, being conservative is far more laid back than it is in the United States. Both American and Canadian conservatives support the independence of their own nations, the idea of a free press and media and being progressive while maintaining 'traditional’ values for the greater good. Canadian politics are not as black and white as American politics are. "In the  States, the Democrats and the Republicans are total opposites, they disagree on everything. In Canada, for the most part, both parties see things differently and approach the things they agree on differently too.” says Adam, a York University political sciences student.

In the United States, as Adam mentioned, not being able to see both sides of the political spectrum and where your opposition is coming from is common, as Jonas notes : “Everyone does it: professors and dude-bros alike. There’s no escaping them.  Someone’s gonna judge your opinion and then tell you that you’re wrong for believing in what you believe in and spend a ten-minute yelling session telling you that you need to re-align yourself- sometimes in front of the whole class.”

Being conservative is a challenge because maintaining your political views throughout all of your years of getting your degree in American colleges is not an easy feat. “A lot of my conservative friends went to the other side to fit in.” Alessandra says. “You feel really isolated, not just because everyone is telling you that you are wrong about the things you believe in but because no body is willing to listen to where you come from. I think they’re afraid of us, especially the profs. Which is really weird, when you think about it.”

But when you ask the more democratic- leaning kids on campus what they think about the republican students, most of the reaction sounds a lot like this:

“I feel like they don’t know what they’re doing. They have power, but they choose not to use to the help other people out. They use their politics to put other people down, to make themselves feel superior. They voted for a president that thought that way, and you can tell they don’t have a problem with the idea of a guy like Trump leading the country, or they would have voted for literally anyone else.” 22 year-old Jacob tells me. He also goes to the University of Michigan.

“I agree that we should listen to them more, but when it comes to voicing your opinions, especially at a place like the University of Michigan” (which prompts a ‘whoot whoot’ from his roommate, Chris) “When you’re talking politics, you use your voice to talk about, like, things that make sense to people. Cheaper education, better access to health care. Like, we’re young; we gotta start worrying about things that we have to deal with in the future.”

I ask him if he thinks that if he talks politics that people are going to listen to him and might even change some conservative minds.

“Yeah, I think so anyway. You need to make sure that you’re thinking about yourself when you vote. A lot of the con kids on campus are raised that way. They come from towns in the Midwest that are totally red. Of course they’re gonna be conservative. They gotta realise that they’re voting for themselves and that their parents aren’t watching them anymore. If I tell them what’s happening with their vote, and I’ve done this before, maybe they’ll change their minds. Sometimes it works, too.”

I asked Alessandra the same thing, and she said something pretty different.

“All of the democratic kids are yelling over each other, saying the same thing. They look really stupid while they do that, too. I try to listen to what they’re saying, but their opinions and ideas for the country are a little too up in the air for me. I believe in a free labour market in which people have to take the opportunities that they’re given. If they don’t take it, then that’s too bad and they’ve missed out on their opportunities. It’s a hard world and people aren’t going to make it any easier for you by getting criminals in the White House. Democrats think they will though.”

I asked her what her opinion was on people who think that young republicans are being brainwashed.

“It’s a load of crap, honestly. This is how I think, and I’m thinking realistically and for myself.”

I asked some who I interviewed what they want the future of politics to look like. They all said relatively the same thing, which I think was summed up best in Jacob’s answer:

 “Pretty much the same, but also really different… let me explain.”

““Right now, the world doesn’t make a lot of sense. I think we all want politicians who will get up and do something good, not just for our nation, but to make the world a better place. And that’s really challenging; you can’t get people like that anymore. I want for everyone to see eye to eye when it comes to where our country is going. I agree with the two party system, but maybe one where the views aren’t so different. We should all be supporting one another, but just not through politics, through others means, too.”

So what can we do?

“We just have to listen to each other.” Jonas says, shrugging a little, because he knows what backlash he can get by saying that. “It’s the irony of the open-minded conservative. People don’t think you exist.”

“Respect the democratic process, and allow people to express themselves. If you truly believe in something, you won’t have to defend it.” Suggests Alessandra.  

Jacob looked at this whole situation, from both perspectives (he also got a look at what the other  

interviewees said), and told me the following:

“We need to start to understand people beyond their ideas. Your political views do not summarize your entire identity, and we need to remember that about other people. You may not agree with the things other people say, but that doesn’t mean you’re not allowed to listen. Political views only become violent when people become violent.”

Lisa and Adam agreed, saying that listening to others allows for your thoughts to be challenged, and that because everyone is in the process of changing, it is important that we understand that our political ideas change, too. Allow yourself to be challenged. Your views aren’t forever, and it’s certainly not your job, as either a student, a professor or anyone else to change the political views of another person, except for when it is directly harmful, “then maybe try to convince them out of it.” Adam says, in a joking but serious expression.

I think it was Janice, who really sent it home: “Sure, people are going to disagree with you. That’s how people are. That’s democracy. This is proof the process is working. Some people take it too far and lash out if you disagree with them. That’s not democracy, and regardless where you come from, it’s not getting you anywhere.”

Politics are complicated, and having your opinion being heard and understood is a challenge. Learning to listen to the other side, as much as that may go against everything you believe in is how one can discover what they truly believe in

 and who they support. Politics is thinking about yourself and what you want the world to look like, but remembering the needs of others as well. Being conservative - the minority - especially in places where all mindsets are to be considered equal, can be especially challenging for some students. So, no matter what side of the political spectrum you come from, step outside your echo chamber, listen to your opponent sand challenge your ideas. This is development, this is democracy, this is the future.