These past few weeks have been different; my focus has been shifted away from politics, the subject that got me interested in writing. Lately I have been writing about hunting and fishing, Apple vs. the FBI and of all things, dating. Who knew? 

My political opinions have been bottled up for a month, and it feels good to get back to what got me started writing: conservative politics. 

Today though, I feel different. Now don’t get me wrong — normally I am ready to stick it to Hillary or Bernie for some policy I don’t agree with, or something concerning emails and servers. Not today. Today I am pissed at both sides of the aisle. In fact I’m not even angered with a candidate or politician; my grievance today is with the media on both sides, left and right — MSNBC and Fox News. 

My nights usually go roughly like this: I get out of class, go home, go for a run  and then head to the library to attempt to understand chemistry or some agriculture class (usually to no avail). 

Then I go home and turn on Fox. I watch Fox mostly because I am a Republican, but also because I don’t get MSNBC. How sad — I miss Chris Matthews and Rachel Maddow … sometimes. 

I feel like you need to get both sides of the spectrum to truly understand the hate and vitriol between the parties and their supporters, and that’s my point.

I was watching Fox’s “The O’Reilly Factor,” which is my favorite show on the network. As always, they had an ultra conservative panel and one little liberal there getting his ass kicked. I felt sorry for the guy. 

I mean, come on, let’s at least even the playing field — he needs a friend. Every time I turn on Fox they are constantly bashing the left, and every time I turn on MSNBC, they are bashing the right. That’s a lot of bashing. 

Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to watch one news channel and get fair and balanced opinions and debates concerning national and political issues? 

Both of these networks are incredibly biased. If I hear another thing about how dumb Trump and his supporters — or Republicans in general — are, on “Hardball With Chris Matthews” I will punch my TV. On the same note, if I hear another thing about Clinton’s emails and see democrats who are willing to travel deep into Roger Ailes territory get their voice drowned out by four raging republicans, my TV will suffer the same fate. Don’t get me wrong; it happens on MSNBC too, possibly even more so. I am just tired of the one-sided exchanges that happen constantly on both of these networks.

Turn on Fox or MSNBC today, and all you see are people talking past each other. They aren’t even really arguing; they are merely trying to drown out their adversary. True debate

comes when opposing sides try to understand the other’s opinion and point of view. It is not merely trying to be the loudest voice. Don’t worry friends because there exists hope yet. 

There is a show at 11:30 p.m. on Sundays on PBS called The McLaughlin Group. This is a political talk show featuring Tom Rogan, Pat Buchanan, Clarence Paige and Eleanor Clift as panelists, and John McLaughlin as moderator. Now, Buchanan is my favorite. There’s not much yelling, just a lot of disagreement — politics as it should be. Clift and Paige are the liberals, while Buchanan and Rogan take the conservative tone. It is a simple show that has been running for ages. If you are tired of the “arguments” on MSNBC and Fox, then check out this show for some good old-fashioned politics.