The Republicans and Democrats are at it again. The Senate voted down the Paycheck Fairness Act with 54 votes for and 43 votes against on April 9. Falling six votes short of the 60 required to push the act further, every single Democratic senator voted for the act and every single Republican senator voted against the act. The Paycheck Fairness Act was intended to remedy the disparity between the wages of men and women. President Barack Obama, in his State of the Union address, said that on average women make 77 cents to every dollar a man earns. “That is wrong, and in 2014, it’s an embarrassment. Women deserve equal pay for equal work,” said Obama. The act would have prevented employers from punishing employees who inquired about wages or discussed salaries among each other. Federal contractors would also be required to give the Labor Department information about their employees’ race, gender and pay rate. Workers discussing their salaries is commonly prohibited or discouraged by employers, according to a 2011 survey by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. The survey found that 48 percent of workers said they were either discouraged or forbidden to discuss their salaries. The Democratic Party has been pushing to make several changes concerning wages, including a raise to minimum wage and acts concerning unemployment policies, but the Republicans continue to block the efforts to change our job climate, claiming that these efforts are only “show votes” used for political reasons and that the Democrats aren’t actually doing anything to help the job market. For a moment, let’s forget how much we hate the party we’re not a part of. Consider for a moment that in 2014, women are still not equal to men. Should that be changed? Consider that minimum wage is not a living wage. Shouldn’t people who are working full-time be able to support themselves? A living wage is the bare minimum a person needs to pay for the necessities: food, clothing, gas, utilities, rent, health insurance, etc. According to justeconomics.org the typical living wage is $10.35 an hour. Our current minimum wage is just $7.25. Let’s stop making this about political parties and start making it about what is right. It’s doubtful that anyone would disagree that women should earn the same amount of money as a man for the same work or that a person who is trying to get by on minimum wage should actually earn enough to live on. We keep getting blinded by the hatred between the political parties when we should just look at the facts. It doesn’t matter which party is trying to do the right thing. It matters that it gets done. Maybe you don’t agree with all of the decisions one of the parties has made in the past. Most of us don’t, but we need to pay attention to what decisions they are trying to make now. If we get hung up on hating every single thing “the other guys” try to do, then nothing is ever going to get done. Nothing is ever going to get better. So, take a step back. Pretend that there is no such thing as a political party and diversify your news intake. If you watch Fox, take in a little CNN as well or vice versa. If you’re only getting one side of the story, then you’re only half as informed as you need to be to make a decision. Contact our elected officials and tell them what’s what. One person may not be able to sway an opinion, but a few hundred might. Visit www.ok.gov for a list of Oklahoma’s elected officials and their contact info. Stop worrying about whether you’re a donkey or an elephant. Start your own party. You could be the platypuses.