Yes, I’m from the South, and no, I’m not voting for Trump

People tend to assume that because I was born and raised in the South, still live in the South, go to the most conservative public college in the US and was raised to be conservative, that I am a Republican voting for Donald Trump. This could not be further from the truth.

I was raised conservative and, like many young people, I adopted the views of my parents. I said things because my parents said them and I never put much thought into it. If Tomi Lahren had been around then, I would have watched her religiously.

But, as I started getting older, I began to see that my values didn’t line up with the Republican party’s values. Once this ball started rolling, I got more involved in politics – gay rights in particular. When we’re younger, we adopt our parents’ views because we don’t have enough life experience to form our own opinions and values. Once politics play a role in who we are or they directly affect us, we start to take an interest.

Donald Trump wants to “Make America Great Again,” but what does that even mean? When exactly was America greater than it is now? We aren’t perfect, but we have been making great strides recently. I believe we should be looking towards the future instead of the past.

Some people think that just because I don’t want to “Make America great again” that I hate America. But, I love our country. We are so lucky to live in a country where we have opportunities to achieve our dreams and live freely.

I wrote an article about being a liberal on a conservative campus and ended up getting banned from two of the “Auburn class of…” Facebook pages. Instead of respecting my opinions, they commented “#BUILDTHATWALL” and banned me from the group. And I just love that.

On this note, I do not understand the whole “build a wall” thing and Muslim ban. Nearly everyone in the U.S. right now is an immigrant. We all came from different places, backgrounds and religions. America has always been called “the land of the free” and we pride ourselves on having a diverse population.

So why does Trump want to build a wall? Unfortunately, I do not have the answer for you. He seems to have a lot of big ideas with no actual plans.

At the end of the day, Donald Trump would not be good for our country. You can disagree, of course, because this is just my opinion. But, please don’t let him represent me as a Southerner. And stop banning me from Facebook groups.