In Monday’s edition of The Daily Eastern News, Logan Klepzig, a member of the Political Science Association, talked about how his organization was hosting a debate for the College Republicans and Democrats.

Klepzig said when mentioning the parties debating, “We do not have to agree with each other, but we at least hear each other out.”

In politics today, hearing each other out is not something people excel at. On both sides people jump to conclusions on information they are barely informed on before even hearing both sides of the story.

This leads to chaos and confusion about what is fact and what is just opinion. The difference, while it should be clear to the leaders of our state and country, is instead blurred to the point they state opinion as fact.

No matter how strongly someone holds a belief, without data to back it up, it is just that: a belief.

When politicians state their beliefs as facts they are just like a child running around telling everyone Santa Claus is real. Except, unfortunately, they are more dangerous because people may be swept up in their nonsense.

This is why involvement by informed citizens is key. Debates like the one recently held on campus allow students to familiarize themselves with pressing policy issues facing our local, state and federal government.

Whether or not you identify with a political party, being aware of the decisions being made on all three levels is important because they affect you and your community. Listening to the way both sides approach problems can even give those debating ideas new ways of tackling issues.

To make progress and grow as people, opportunities like this debate should be taken as a learning experience. They should not just be used as a way to reaffirm beliefs by listening to only the side you like and trashing any other opinion or idea that comes from the opposing party.

If no one is open to new ideas, we stay in the same place forever. To move forward, collaboration and compromise must happen.

Democrats have good ideas. Republicans have good ideas. Others elected who are not affiliated with either party have good ideas. No party’s ideas are perfect, however.

By staying informed we can hold our politicians accountable by making sure they are basing their policies not only on beliefs, but also on sound data.

Even though this debate occurred on the college level where we are here to develop and learn, the idea should be the same on the national or state level.

The purpose of politicians should be to do what is best for the people whom they represent. This should often take the form of working with people from other parties to at the very least hear what they have to say.

We all have to share this country.

If we try we can find common ground in factual information and data and make decisions from there. It does not have to be always attacking the other side. Civil political debates are possible. We can start by proving it here and encouraging civil conversations about politics by who we vote for in the future and the way we talk about the other side.