“E Pluribus Unum.” Some of you may recognize the phrase, some of you may know what it means, some of you may not have any idea what it means, and the rest of you probably fall somewhere in between. It is often referred to as the “motto of the United States”, and translates to “out of many, one”. You can find the famous phrase not only on most U.S. currency and the Great Seal of the United States, but you can also find it right above my right elbow in the form of a tattoo. “E Pluribus Unum” was one of the first tattoos I had done and is a constant reminder to me of what being an American really means. 

The way I describe the phrase to people is very simple. I explain to them that it means “unity.” Unity is also the simplest way I would describe my view of what America should be if I had to sum it up in one word. Being born in the United States conferred upon me many benefits that others in our world are not fortunate enough to have. The way my parents taught me through not only words but also actions was that you should always try and help others, especially those who might not be doing that great at the moment. To simply help and protect others. That viewpoint has stuck with me throughout my whole life, and if you know me, you probably have a story of how protective I am of those who I care about. Now that I just entered my 30’s, I have a lot more wisdom than I did when I was in my teenage years (but I’m always striving to gain more). In the past, I wouldn’t get too mad if someone had a problem with me and tried to antagonize me, but if you crossed the line and threatened one of my friends, “the train would leave the station” so to speak. Meaning, I would do anything I had to do to protect those close to me. I don’t necessarily think that is a bad thing, and now that I’m older I show that trait in a more responsible way. Which brings me to my next word and the reason you’re here reading this on my website: Politics. 

As I progress through my life, I realize more and more that even the mere mention of the word “politics” can make a lot of people very uncomfortable. Unfortunately for those people, politics happen to be a very large part of life and politics are paramount to our existence and the experience we have on earth as humans. The making people uncomfortable part is really worrisome to me because I think some of the people who are “turned off” by politics, just kind of sweep the subject under the rug and don’t pay attention because of how uncomfortable they get or how uneducated they may be due to a lack of interest. Aside from some being uncomfortable, others are on the opposite side of the spectrum. Those people might not necessarily agree/identify with what their "political party” says or does, but more-so they are “anti” the opposing party. Almost similar to a nationalistic view, but for their party not country. That is very problematic and it happens on all sides of the isle.

I have to admit that in the past few years, I have fallen victim to the behavior mentioned above myself. I found myself getting very angry on numerous occasions due to different political topics and it would manifest on my social media accounts. I actually deactivated my Facebook for over a year and a half. I told people it was because one of my best friends was working for Facebook and I didn’t realize how many people they hire as contractors so that they can manipulate their workforce at will (that’s another issue I’ll cover in one of my future posts lol.) Once my friend was let go and I found that out, I decided to deactivate it in protest. But I didn’t reactivate it for a long time and it was because every time I would login, I would find myself in the middle of yet another political argument on Facebook. I didn’t like how I was acting, so I decided to stay off for a while. I ended up running into the same issue on Twitter and decided to do a lot of introspection into what was really going on. I know the intensity stemmed from the passion that I have for politics, and that passion is there because I see the impact politics have on people’s lives and I don’t like to see people get exploited. 

The internet was one thing, but when it came to real life, I realized that I actually got a long with these people who I would argue with from time to time and we happened to agree on much more than we disagreed on. This is what spurred my interest in creating this site. Rather than contribute to the problem and add more hate and vitriol to the situation, I asked myself what I could do to help the situation. I wanted to help not only the instant situation, but I wanted to help everyone else as well. I analyzed a lot of the issues and I (along with the help of my extraordinary Father, Mark Pizante) came up with the philosophy that in general, politics should be inclusive and not exclusive. In our current political climate it seems that things are exactly the opposite. I also realized a lot of the times when I would communicate, that my thoughts on the issues I discuss are more complex and longer than the social media platforms allow for, which made it nearly impossible to get my complex points across because they are filled with nuances that need explanation. As I stated earlier, sometimes people don’t necessarily identify with their party, but they know they hate the other side. When we look at that from a macro standpoint, we find that the average Jane and average Joe’s are the ones who truly suffer when we focus on that small amount of things that we might not agree on. The phrase I have always used to describe this to people was: “if I was able to get all of my Facebook friends in the same room, I feel like I could get us to agree on at least 95% of the issues that face us in modern society.” What I mean by that is, yeah, not everyone would be 100% happy, but in reality that’s how negotiations should be. I don’t believe any one party has all the answers, and no matter what side of the isle you’re on, its completely naive to think your party has all the answers. If everyone walks away from the table a little upset, the general public will benefit, because THINGS WILL ACTUALLY GET DONE. That is my main gripe with our current system. We’re so caught up in Republican this or Democrat that, that we are blind to the fact that the middle class is dwindling down each and every year and the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. And for the record, unless you’re net worth is in the 8 or 9 digits, you’re not rich by this standard. 

I know the phrase “fake news” is used a lot these days and while I used to make fun of that saying, it’s getting kind of out of hand with the frequency in which it is mentioned. Even though it might be more challenging with social media these days and some “biased” sites, the whole truth still exists. There is a difference between right and wrong, and opinions are not facts. I know a lot of people work a large number of hours during the week and just simply don’t have time to research what’s really going on in the world. You can’t blame the person who works a 50 hour week and isn’t necessarily passionate about politics for not going the extra mile to find out what’s true and what’s false. That’s another problem I want to address. But, just like everything else, nothing is as simple as we’d like. There is a lot of manipulation and subliminal messaging going on, and sometimes people don’t know they’re being manipulated when they are in fact being manipulated. 

The fact that people are simply not agreeing with either side is a large influence of what brought me to the point of creating this website and naming it Depublitarian. If the meaning doesn’t pop out to you immediately, don’t feel like you’re the only one. The “De” is blue and obviously represents the Democratic point of view. The “Republi” is red and represents the Republican side of things, and the “Tarian” I left grey and want it to stand for being "undefined" so I chose “grey” as in not black and not white (akin to not blue and not red.) I want to use this as a tool to define a political party/viewpoint that makes sense to people. I want people to feel more comfortable discussing different topics and be confident that the truth is what we’re after, not judging each other. I don’t know about you, but I don’t fit in perfectly with any of the political parties in America. I’m a combination of all or most of them and not only do I want what’s best for me, but I want what’s best for you, too. 

My main goal is that I want us all to focus on the huge chunk of the pie that we agree on. The part that reasonable people could agree with by compromising so we can help each other out and have each and every one of us live a better life. When we fight about the ~5% of things we don’t agree on, we can’t fix the other 95% of things that we do agree on (for the most part). I will address these topics on a weekly basis and I encourage anyone reading this who is passionate about these types of topics to reach out to me and contribute. If you have a topic you want to discuss, be my guest. The only rule I have in terms of etiquette is that when it comes to feedback and criticism, it is extremely welcomed and encouraged. When you give feedback and criticize, the one caveat I have is that if you choose to be critical; no blind complaining without at least an attempt at a better alternative. I don’t want to add to the exhaustive back and forth of people just telling each other that the other is wrong and they are right. Please understand, it’s very hard to change people’s minds but I think the way to compromise is to understand where the other person is coming from, hearing each other out, and finding out which specific parts the other person has a problem with. We all want the same thing, to live a happy and fulfilling life.

Thank you for your time reading this post. I'm excited to share my passion for standing up for what's right. Feel free to share this with others and share your feedback however you feel comfortable doing so. "If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything."