“Vote!”

This has been the resounding message for the past few weeks; I couldn’t walk on campus without at least five people asking me if I was registered to vote, I couldn’t turn on the TV without sitting through dozens of the same political commercial over and over again, I couldn’t even stream Pandora without having to hear the names Gardner or Udall.

And so I did my civic duty and I voted.

But apparently there was a disclaimer that I didn’t know about: Vote, but only if you’re going to endorse a left-wing, Democratic incumbent.

If I was going to vote any other way, apparently I should have just kept my ignorant, woman-hating vote to myself.

Logging onto social media the morning after an election race is certainly an interesting experience, but I was actually somewhat excited for it this time, given that the candidate I supported had taken the seat handily.

I was told that I was ignorant, that I was running the government into the ground, that, as a woman, I voted against myself.

So let’s take a look at the facts, again: Cory Gardner is Colorado’s Senator. If you bother to actually put some research into Gardner’s views and don’t rely on Udall’s campaign commercials to educate you on his opponent, you would find that Gardner has, many times, called for birth control to be available over the counter and without a prescription.

I didn’t realize that I was voting against women when endorsing a candidate wanting to give me more access to contraception than I had when the Democrats had the majority.

Gardner had campaign photos taken in front of windmills for a reason: he has been quoted as saying, “I have never wavered in my support for a forward-thinking American energy policy, and Colorado is at the center of our national energy revolution,” on his campaign webpage. And yet, I was still told that I voted against the environment.

Despite the fact that support for Obamacare has taken a nosedive since being enacted (since September, only 35 percent of voters supported the Affordable Care Act), I was told that by supporting Gardner, I was trying to run the government into the ground.

No, Democrats have done a great job of that since having a majority in both the House and Senate during 2008-2010.

I was labeled as being a racist because I’m conservative, even though Republican Tim Scott was the first African-American popularly elected into the Senate in the South.

Produce will stay at a reasonable price because the measure to label GMOs failed. Money will be allocated to the Humane society to help the stray population. Access to free birth control is still available. The benefits coming out of this election don’t stop there.

2014 proved to be the year that upset Democrats the most. Even in solidly blue states, Republicans pulled through and now have majority not only in the Senate, but in the House of Representatives as well.

This is not due to some huge mistake or conspiracy, but because the American populace isn’t all too pleased with the way things were run with the Democrats. But by trying to change that, Republican voters are labeled as ignorant.

No, ignorance is voting for the same kind of candidate over and over again and expecting change.

I think we can expect great things from the Republican candidates now in office. We can expect alternatives to Obamacare being proposed, we can hopefully expect the debate over personhood to make some headway, and we can hopefully see some change that Democrats weren’t giving us.

This is democracy. If you ask me, this is change for the better. And that doesn’t make me ignorant.

Collegian Columnist Brittany Jordan can be reached at letters@collegian.com.