Some of you may be conservative and some of you may be liberal. Some of you may be middle of the road or moderate.

Regardless of which way you lean politically, we are all Americans.

Election year, especially one with a hotly contested presidential race can be a heated time for our citizens.

Throw in today’s social media platforms, where many share their thoughts, memes and beliefs, and it can make for an even more volatile situation. Some may even turn into arguments. Friendships may be ended because one person leans far left and the other far right.

As they say, we can just agree to disagree. There is no use in getting mad or losing friendships over politics.

It seems when we are younger, we may lean more toward the liberal side. I think this is because of the influences of classmates, especially of college age, or being around people with socialist beliefs. As some of us get older and start to pay bills and see how things work, we may start to lean more toward the conservative side of the line.

Since I began to vote at the ripe age of 18 years, I have always voted for the policies, not the party. I have voted for Republicans, Democrats and Independents.

However, some will vote straight Democratic or straight Republican no matter what. Some will vote for third parties like independents or Libertarians.

That is OK if that is what you want. I try to do my research and look at the facts. And I do not believe everything I see or hear. There is no doubt that certain media sources lean a certain way. For example CNN is considered liberal and FOX is considered conservative.

But one thing is for sure: the facts are the facts and you cannot hide the truth. I am not going to state my thoughts on the issues in this column.

However, I will say this: this is not your grandparents’ or even your parents’ Democratic Party anymore. It is not the party of Franklin D. Roosevelt of the 1930s and 1940s, who started Social Security and got the United States out of a depression. It is not the party of John F. Kennedy of the early 1960s, who stood up to communism and Russia.

Times have changed, my friends. The Democratic Party is no longer the party of the working class or the underdogs.

Many are considered “Reagan” Democrats, which is someone who is still registered with the party but still leans conservative.

Some of it could be where you live. Some of it could be because you live in what is considered a rural state, so you may be more conservative. It seems many larger urban areas tilt the other way.

West Virginia is a good example. For years, the Mountain State voted Democratic, but over the past few years has changed to a “red” state. We have a Republican governor, Republican congressmen and a Republican U.S. Senator, and we will likely elect a second GOP senator in November.

You can even see it at the county level nowadays. In the past, many counties, like Mingo, were run by Democrats. However, over the last few years, Republicans have held county and other local offices.

Many can “fact check” the issues and no matter what they find, they won’t be swayed by the truth. Some will back the candidates of their party regardless of their policies or how those policies affect our country.

However, do not let an election or how a person votes ruin a friendship or even cause issues in a family.

We all have the right to vote the way we want. That is one of the many freedoms we still have in this great country. God bless you all and God bless America.

(Kyle Lovern is a longtime journalist in the Tug Valley. He is now a retired freelance writer and columnist for the Mountain Citizen.)