So I normally avoid politics...as if I'd catch some communicable ideology that would undoubtedly spread to others. Come to think of it, it's the same reason I don't attend most sporting events...but that's for another blog. Years ago, I took a class to learn how to be a bartender...thought it'd help me pay the bills through grad school while meeting interesting people. The one thing my "teacher" said is that good bartenders avoid talking about religion and politics, in order to help keep the peace amongst the patrons. And while I never shied away from religion and its requisite hilarity, I really took the politics advice to heart. But what seemed sense to avoid whilst in a room of inebriated provocateurs no longer seems the right thing to do on my own blog. In fact, voices that speak with civility and forethought are sorely needed to balance out so much of the propagandized reporting and veritas-deficient opinion pieces out there.
Chances are I'll end up spewing the same vitriole and nonsense as everyone else, but at least I had a humble opening paragraph to make myself sound less partisan. As a teenager, I used to love politics, perhaps because it was one thing my dad and I could talk about. I even used to listen to Rush Limbaugh's radio show (ouch, I know) and talk to friends about our country's alleged Christian roots. I believed wholeheartedly "in the republic for which it stands" and before going to college would undoubtedly have supported draconian measures to ensure the immutability of (certain) American ideals. I was infatuated with my nation-state, although lacking a substantive understanding of what it is.
The pendulum swung, as it tends to do in college, and while I voted for George W. (the first time around) I questioned myself. I proceeded to switch parties, and vote against Bush in the next election, and yet I couldn't shake the feeling that I hadn't really done anything differently. The twofold reason I showed up on the following presidential election day and voted for Obama is (1.) I wanted to be part of the historic moment where an African American was voted president and (2.) I felt it necessary to support the right to marry by opposing Prop. 8. In truth, I no longer cared about political parties, liberal and conservative tags, and even voting (I know, I'm a terrible human being). Wow, as I proofread before saving, I'm surprised at how confessional this posting is.
I struggled for a while to decipher why I had such lasting apathy towards our political system, and I'm only starting to have some tentative explanations. The first one everyone knows...there are few real differences between either political party...yet seems to ignore. Despite the extreme rhetoric that emanates from both sides of the aisle, major political parties avoid issues which might ostracize the majority, and end up, by necessity, sounding more and more alike. If a segment of the population has an issue that's going to ostracize the Democrat or Republican voter base, you will see a bi-partisan effort to declare it anathema (e.g. Prop 19 and marijuana legalization). On the other hand, if an ideology can be brought into the fold and re-branded - as many neo-conservatives have done with the Tea Party movement - it is quick to be labeled "gospel." Call Obama socialist all you like, but realistically there's no one brave enough to run for political office as a true 21st-century socialist. And despite the similarities between each other, we draw Hitler mustaches on Obama (or Bush) as if they are carrying on some grand Nazi design behind our backs. (FYI: Hitler was a fascist, not a socialist) I'm surprised at the lack of civility and reason between 2 parties that offer very little difference in this writer's humble opinion.
My second reason for such political indifference is due to an overwhelming frustration with the category of "nation-state." Must I bear loyalty to a landmass because it is where I was born? Must other people die because they disagree with our ideologies and patterns of consumption? Don't get me wrong, I believe in self-defense and survival, but I'm confronted with the stark reality that one must oft be a patriot at the expense of the rest of the human race. It seems to me that the nation-state is only 1 step of many in our social evolution, much like tribal or feudal categories before it. Does that mean we're off to be a 1-world government where all of us share equal roles in a virtual utopia? I highly doubt it, and yet I long for something new, something better than this system of artificial allegiance. Unfortunately - due to a combination of human selfishness and fear, ethnic and religious difference, and anxious-for-armageddon evangelicals and other religious extremists who view the U.N. (or anything different) as a disembodied antichrist - no one seems particularly interested in moving beyond what we have or at least thinking outside the familiar. That's all I have at the moment, a few musings and a lot of hot air, and a fervent hope that there are others in this world who think there is more to life than Republican, Democrat, or even America.
