Politics

How many times have you heard someone say, or have you said yourself, "I don't pay attention to politics," or, "I don't follow that stuff (meaning politics)," or, "I really don't care what those idiots in Washington do," or words to that effect? I would suspect that even if you haven't said them yourself, you've heard them said by others at least once, and probably upwards of a few hundred times.

This is understandable. No, really, it is. It really doesn't take long to get fed up with all the partisan squabbling, and the empty rhetoric, and the flat out corruption that we see so often amongst those in power. If you spend very much time watching politicians you almost can't help thinking that it's like watching a very boring version of Hollywood.

I spend a lot of time reading political opinions (not to mention blogging about my own) and thinking about political things, and even I get very fed up with the way thing system works, or, more accurately, doesn't work. Too many politicians spend too much time worried about looking good in front of the cameras, or playing to the base of their party, or trying to push their own agenda, and not nearly enough trying to do what is right for the Country, and the people in it.

So, yes, I understand why so many Americans just want to wash their hands of the whole thing, but we can't! As annoying and ridiculous as Politics can be (and usually is) we can't just ignore what is going on. The truth is that Politics is not actually about the pompous windbags, regardless of party affiliation, or all the things that we tend to associate with them. Politics is actually about us. Politicians are the ones that make the laws, and rules and regulations that the rest of us must live by. As annoying as it all is, it truly affects our daily lives, in nearly every way. Unfortunately, being outrageous is a good way for politicians to avoid scrutiny. If one party can get us focused on something other than the issues, or the bills that are coming up before them for a vote, or speak in circles until we aren't sure what issue they were talking about in the first place, then they don't have to worry too much about being held accountable for the things they do.

Another unfortunate side to all of this is the fact that politics, by it's very nature, tends to attract the type of person that cannot be trusted to do anything but grasp for power, and, once they attain it, to hold on tightly with both hands, by any means at their disposal. Ask yourself, how many times have you voted for someone that you wouldn't invite into your own home for dinner? Or declined to vote because there was no one running that you felt you could vote for with a clear conscience? Sickening isn't it?