Last week I did something I never thought I’d do:

I lobbyied on Captiol Hill.

Um… what? Lobbyied? (Again, I swear I don’t know who I am anymore)

Scratch that off the “No Way I’d Ever Think To Do That Bucket List”

Yep, I lobbied for issues pertaining to my profession in advertising. While I was there soaking in the experience, I have come to realize why I think our country is so divided. Within our own government lines of communication are ruined. Gone are the days where a Republican and Democrat can enjoy a steak at a restaurant and hash out a deal face to face. If that happened now, within seconds it would spread through the internet in pictures and tweets, get misconstrued and then ultimately find its way on a Times Square ticker. All in about 43 seconds. So nobody on Capitol Hill talks anymore. Instead politicians talk more to cameras than to each other.

Also where the public gets information has changed. Before the internet, printed newspapers were supposed to stay neutral. The code was if you reported a story from a particular point of view you always offered the other side as to not be bias. Thus giving the whole story. Not saying it was perfect system but that was the idea. Well now, hello internet and goodbye fair play.

Republicans get their information from the Drudge report, Rush Limbaugh or Fox News, Democrats get their news from The Huffington Post, and MSNBC, or Thom Hartmann. The Millennials get their news from programs like the Daily Show, The Onion and The Colbert Report. I know this is a generalized statement but my point is most of us seek out news from sources that agree with our own political point of view. So we get validation of our opinions which is really diverging roads that are based in skewed realities of the truth. Neither side is right. They just want to preach to the choir. The same story reported on the Drudge report could be completely different on the Huffington Post. Same story, with two explanations. Republicans and Democrats feel they come out on top, thus continuing the divergence of the roads of the red and blue states. Nothing good comes out of only hearing your side and being close minded to another point of view. Nothing good ever comes of a relationship where neither side talks. And when politicians can’t even agree on the problem based on different views on reality, how could things get better? I have hope that things can, and while I don’t have any solutions as to how, I do have hope. That politically smarter people than I with some compassion, common sense, and some ability to listen will get together for a steak. Hash things out, agree, while posting their desert choice on Instagram.

I also did something else in Washington D.C. that I thought I’d never do: I ran around the U.S. Capitol building and surrounding area. For the record, jogging in our nation’s capitol is way more fun than lobbying.

(Again, I swear I don’t know who I am anymore, and maybe that’s the point.)