Baseball shootings, pipe bombs and grown adults throwing temper tantrums all have one thing in common:

Politics.

On June 14th, 2017, Republicans were practicing in Virginia for the annual bipartisan Congress baseball game when James Hodgkinson, a mentally unstable, radical leftist and avid supporter of Bernie Sanders, opened fire on the players. He shot House Representative Steve Scalise, a member of congressional staff, and two congressional police officers before he himself was killed.

Sanders, who had rejected Hodgkinson’s request to volunteer for his campaign earlier that year, called the event “despicable.”

Then, in late October of this year, registered Republican Cesar Sayoc sent glass-filled pipe bombs to prominent Democrats across the country, including former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, former vice president Joe Biden, and several Democrat state representatives; a pipe bomb was also sent to CNN’s New York newsroom.

Immediately, claims that Sayoc was secretly a Democrat arose among right-wing social media posts, denying that a Republican would ever strike at the other party in such a way.

According to Politifact, an October 26 post on Facebook (wrongly) stated, “A lifelong Democrat recently registered as a Republican, covered his van with Trump stickers and began sending bombs that didn’t explode to Democrats. And you have to ask why Americans find that suspicious?”

Democrats viciously attacked the Trump administration and right-wing ideas for supposedly supporting the radical ideas that led Sayoc to strike. Republicans immediately snapped back, pointing out that several Democrats, including Hodgkinson, have also committed atrocious acts of violence in recent years.

The bipartisan bickering, which has escalated into full-blown fighting in recent years, is, sadly, nothing new. When something violent happens in America, whether it be a shooting or a  hate crime (such as the Synagogue shooting on October 27th), Republicans and Democrats are quick to point the finger at each other and play the blame game.

“It’s Republicans’ fault–they’re all racist!”

“It’s Democrats’ fault–they all hate America!

“Re-thug-licans” and “special snowflakes” are the kindest of the names the two parties throw at each other, and most others aren’t appropriate for a high school publication.

In a world already violently divided by nation, language, religion, race and gender, fighting over political ideology in such a way is not only pointless but also childish, especially when many of the people doing the fighting are political figures and fully-grown adults.

For example, after the Democrats refused to applaud at President Trump’s State of the Union Address on January 30th, 2018, he called them “un-American.”

He also said that “the Democrat Agenda is a Socialist Nightmare” over Twitter on November 6th, 2018, and even threatened to open an investigation after the Democrats won the House of Representatives the following day.

Trump has also made fun of liberal politicians such as Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi, degrading their physical appearance as well as their credibility.

Anti-Trump politicians have spoken out against him on several occasions. Hillary Clinton has called Trump “shameful” and insulted his hair.

Democrats have made continued accusations toward Trump about colluding with Russia to sabotage the 2016 presidential election, even though there is no evidence supporting the claims.

The New York Magazine even published an issue depicting Trump as a pig.

Honestly, how immature can these people get? They throw hissy fits and get into catfights whenever they don’t agree!

Even high school students do better at being kind to one another (which isn’t saying much, honestly). We might be ignorant and inexperienced when it comes to politics, but at least common decency and respect aren’t foreign to us.

“We all have different points of view; that’s what makes our country great, so [politics] don’t really matter. We don’t have to get into a [fight] over it,” said sophomore Crystal Camacho.

“I think media has driven both sides to be further apart because of what they cover, and I think a lot of what they cover isn’t necessarily true, meaning they wanna make it look like both sides can’t get along,” noted honors U.S. history teacher Philip Roiko.

“[However] I think that the way President Trump addresses people, and the way they address him, escalates into [fighting]–but…that’s just a small minority [of politicians],” he added.

At the end of the day, even when two people disagree on something as important as politics, respect is paramount.

It’s sad that American politicians have forgotten that.