I was talking to Deborah-a well-informed and intelligent liberal-about education policy in America. She thought it was impressive that I did not speak the Republican line on every issue and that I criticized the President for his deficits and the massive growth of the Federal government's involvement in education and I thought that the administration had made some errors in Iraq. Still, we talked and it impressed me that we could agree on certain things, while, at the same time, disagreeing on other issues without being disagreeable and nasty to one another. Deborah and I developed a respect for one another as we sat in the Shapiro Campus Center for hours of cheers and moans and groans and jeers on election night. However, while we were talking, another member of the Brandeis community came up to me and interrupted our discussion. Without introducing herself, without trying to get to know me as a human being and without good manners, she told me that she knew that one of my housemates was gay and asked why I supported a party that did not support equal rights for him and other homosexuals. I responded that I do, in fact, believe that marriage is between a man and a woman.

With typical independent flair, I told her that I did not agree with the President's proposal for a constitutional amendment since I thought it was a states' rights issue. I noticed that she was wearing a John Kerry sticker, so I told her that I thought it was pretty hypocritical to grill me over gay rights when John Kerry agrees with me that marriage is between a man and a woman.

Apparently, she was not pleased with my response and walked away. This girl proceeded to go to my gay housemate and ask, "How can you live with Herschel? He does not support equal rights for gays to get married." My housemates responded by saying that while they do not agree with me politically, I am really a nice guy.

When I heard what she had said about me, I now knew what the problem was in the current state of America politics. It is not a problem for only the Democrats. It is not only a problem for the Republicans. It is an American problem. When we do not agree with someone on a hot button issue like abortion, gay marriage or the war in Iraq, we cringe, we scowl, we spit, we yell, we scream, we frown and we grimace. We do everything but listen.

In my real life example, this girl just could not imagine the possibility of living with someone who disagreed with her on gay marriage. But is this the way we want America to work? When we disagree, we must do so with the open view that-surprisingly enough-not everyone will agree with us on everything. But we do live in America, the land of free thought and expression.

At this point, I am so sick and tired of hearing the Republicans blame the Democrats or the Democrats blame the Republicans for partisanship in our country. Partisanship comes from people who refuse to speak, to be friends with, or find the time to get to know people who disagree with them on certain issues. Both sides engage in it.

For one of the most intellectual schools in the country, it is unfortunate that many have fallen into the trap of dividing each other based upon viewpoints without engaging in reasonable debate over the issues. While it is easy to label, mock and deride those who do not agree with our viewpoints, we must look past that. We must respect our differences, not scream and yell at them.

My conservative politics do not define me as a human being. Rather, they represent a thinking process that is different from the majority of Brandeisians. To deride and mock is to keep people out of the political sphere.

My point then is so simple and so obvious that, regrettably, very many forget it. It helps us all to listen. It is something that we must do at a diverse school with differing opinions on many different topics. I know that personally, it has given me new perspectives on issues that I had not thought of before. It has strengthened my arguments and has even changed my opinions on some issues, as I have seen the error of my ways.

Unfortunately for me, Deborah had to go. She told me before she left that that she wished we had talked more because she learned a lot from me. The feeling was mutual.

Imagine what Deborah and I could have done if we had been able to talk much longer! Maybe she and I could have come up with the perfect, bipartisan solution to solve the educational woes in this nation. But because of one person who decided to interrupt a stimulating discussion with insinuations and a personal insult, Deborah and I lost the opportunity to solve issues important to us all as Americans. More importantly, one person ended a conversation that could have resulted in a beautiful friendship between a rabid Bush conservative and a loyal leftist liberal. These friendships are few and far between in America today, and this is why.