I was raised very sheltered. Everyone I grew up with looked like me. They talked like I do, they thought the same things I did. When someone told me "Don't go there, those people are different, they could be dangerous" I believed them, because that person knows the same things I do, I must trust them.

A couple years ago, I noted that I wouldn't stop at a restaurant that looked interesting in one neighborhood I drove through regularly because a long time ago, someone told me I shouldn't go there.

Since then, I've been going through a long, arduous process of deconstructing some of the preconceptions I had from my more sheltered youth.

During this process, I realized a lot of my classmates were not afforded the same opportunity to explore this I was. Most people never got to have the same experiences meeting new people, different people, with totally different backgrounds that I did.

I then began to discuss politics. I learned about why people supported who they did. I noticed a pattern. Those I know who supported Donald Trump, were also those who had lived their whole life in the same bubble I started in. These were my friends, good people, people I love and trust dearly, who simply do not know what they don't know.

A couple of them got to go to their campus this year. While nothing material has come of it yet, I beginning to see how these new experiences their having are increasing their worldly awareness. My friend was over the moon to tell me all about Middle Eastern food the other day. He was never exposed to it growing up, he just didn't know he had never tried it before.

I thought of myself as a Republican for a very long time, I'm registered to vote as a Republican. Everything I was told made sense. Why wouldn't it? Everyone around me agreed with it, everything I saw supported it. It was only when I had the chance to look at my world view from the perspective of an outsider that I began to understand how it came about. Because of all of this. I will be voting for Joe Biden come election day.

What I want you to take away is this. Take any opportunity you get to learn about the world view of someone who did not grow up in the same bubble you did. Learn why people from somewhere else think the way they do. If you can, travel. Go to another country, another continent. Somewhere else. Force yourself out of the bubble we all start in.

[SPOILER="Ranked Choice Voting Sidequest"]I have already put way too many words into this reply already. Read about Ranked Choice Voting. First Past The Post voting is fundamentally bad. It's mathematically optimized for two sides, it boils every question down to yes or no. It's a terrible system. Please look into your local/state politicians that support ranked choice voting. I do think it's the only way were reasonably going to be able to progress fast enough to fix some of the critical issues were facing before it's too late to solve them. DM me about it if you want to hear more. [SPOILER="More Sidequest"]Why doesn't the libertarian party support RCV? That's the only way their ever gonna get anywhere in the US? Too Libertarian to fix the vote maybe? IDK haven't looked into that problem at all. Someone DM me if you've researched this before.[/SPOILER][/SPOILER]