Politics is a word that terrifies most people for a variety of reasons. Some don’t understand it, others don’t care for it and some just feel as though we should revert back to the stone age and live in an anarchical society with no central government ruling our lives.

But for others, like myself, politics is a word that inspires.

It makes me interested in how our government system works, why certain decisions are made, and as a journalist, makes me excited to write about.

Perhaps the above reasons are why politics gets me so flustered sometimes.

After watching the first presidential debate Oct. 3 and hearing both President Obama and Governor Mitt Romney listing numbers without citing their sources, I decided to do some research myself.

However, after Googling and tweeting away, I began to grow more and more upset at the fact that a majority of the articles I stumbled upon were focused on human rights issues.

From abortion to gay rights, it was obvious— as it is in every election— that human rights were again a trending discussion topic in this election.

I feel as though human rights are just that—human rights.

No one should be able to tell someone what they can or cannot do simply because they don’t agree with it.

That is something that I have always felt and believe is a basic rule that every society should live by.

What also upsets me is the amount of time and energy that is spent arguing whether or not people should be allowed to have these essential human rights.

If politicians simply let people all be equal and have the rights everyone deserves to have, they would then be able to spend more time and energy on policies that would help our country instead.

No more wasted time on debates of whether we agree with gay rights and no more wasted time on whether we all think women should have access to birth control.

It is time for our politicians to do their job and focus back on what they need to be focusing on—our country.

Samantha Sigler

News editor

Samantha Sigler can be reached at [email protected].