Politics in America is a pretty hot button issue right now. There is a Presidential election coming up, the current President (Barack Obama) is suffering from his fair share of controversial issues, and the separation between conservative and liberal seems to be growing more and more divisive every day. This is, more or less, a (rather long) essay on what's happening from both sides of the aisle, and why a lot of it is really, really stupid.

First we will talk about the split in ranks. Frankly, it is my opinion that the distinct separation of beliefs between conservatives (Republicans) and liberals (Democrats) is mostly a matter of perception (I realize there are other political parties and ideals in this mix, but these are the two major ones, hence the focus on them). This is a perception that is not only colored, but perpetuated by today's media. I'm using "media" in the general sense here as this pertains to both news media (television, radio, newspaper, and Internet) as well as social media. In fact, social media is the most guilty of perpetuating the rift between the parties. Social media has this tendency to create a perception, whether your views are conservative or liberal, that whichever side you are on is a radical group, out do destroy the ideals of those on the other side.

In fact, I'm going to take a rabbit trail for a second here. Let's talk about what exactly "perception" is. Fact: perception is reality. Period. If you do not believe or cannot understand this, go ahead and close this page now and return to your fantasy world. Nothing I say here will be of any value to you.

I work in technical support, which is, at its core, is a customer service position. The "perception is reality" concept is one we embrace on a daily basis. While the product I support is fantastic, there are always going to be people in the world who thinks it should do something better/different/else. When it doesn't, it often falls into the category of "bad" for them. There are maybe 2% of all customers who have tried or currently use the product that feel this way, despite any effort to help them see the reality of all the product does, or technological limitations that simply cannot be overcome. Their perception of our product at that point is that it is worthless. In their reality, that is an accurate statement. The fact that 98% of our customers would disagree with them is irrelevant.

This plays out in the rest of the world, and especially in politics, on a daily basis.