Pol-i-tiks

Politics are something that I know very little about. If you have ever been bored enough to look through the archive on my blog you will not have found a single piece of writing on politics. There are a number of people who have blogs that write about current policies nearly every day, and I felt as though I should, at least once, write about it too. I am not fluent in political terminology, and to be honest I hate discussing politics. It doesn’t matter if they are the loud mouthed opinionated girl in my philosophy class or if they are my closest friends, I simply don’t enjoy it. You may have already written me off as ignorant, or foolish, but in reality my experiences have yielded certain results, which in essence make my opinion just as valid or credible as any other one out there, because after all an opinion is just that…an opinion.

From my observational experience political discussion very rarely ends positively. The first type of conversation I have seen, and become part of more than once in my life, involves two different or opposing viewpoints. I once had a professor describe the continuum that exists between a dialogue and a debate. He emphasized that people should strive to keep interactions closer to the dialogue or discussion side of the continuum, rather than the debate side. I think many times when two people, who have opposing or different viewpoints, discuss something as emotional as politics they tend to divide themselves from one another, and with this division come debate. Once the discussion turns to a debate, both parties are simply arguing for their case, and consideration and absorption aren’t achieved. Two people, myself included, may end up arguing for hours, never coming to any sort of resolution. The second type of conversation that I have taken part in, and witnessed, is between two people who share a common belief. I typically end up saying things that I know the other person will agree with, simply so that some sort of emotional cohesion is formed. Basically, reinforcement of in-group and out-group norms, beliefs and stereotypes are the only outcome that I have ever witnessed. All in all, my experiences with political conversations haven’t been very positive, or worthwhile.

This is what I know about politics: George Bush is a republican. He has made some poor decisions, as well as some good ones. Bill Clinton was a democrat, and he too made some good and some bad decisions. I am aware that a lot of terrible things have occurred in the world within the past five years. Many of these things were out of our control, but some of them were not. I know that over twenty two percent of young people get their political opinions from some sort of political comedian. Satire has been one of the great resources of the human intellect, but when satire becomes the dominant or only mode of communication for an entire generation, then the result can be a destruction of our capacity or willingness for serious thought. I know that some people value fair trade, while others think free trade is the best policy. Some may argue that border patrol is wrong and hurtful, while other people would say illegal immigration has cost tax payers more than anything else in the past twenty years. Basically what I have concluded is that two sides exist for every single idea, issue, policy, and decision. Even when describing a form of government there are two different types either left or right and authoritarian or libertarian. Some may view one thing as good, where others may view it as bad, and there are always going to be people who benefit and people who lose out. There exists the problem; people think their truths are more “truthful” than the next guys’ truths.

I suppose the biggest thing I struggle with regarding politics is that in all the manipulation, and swaying to bring another to our “side” we are becoming even more close minded, judgmental, and most devastatingly, inactive. Politics, in some form or another, will exist forever, but the opportunity for me to do something positive for the world that I live in, right now, won’t last very long. I think that for our generation to have any impact on the world we live in we need to stop discussing and start working. I need to accept that two sides exist for everything…except love. Our desire to both love one another, and be loved, is felt and believed by every single person. I want to initiate change with my hands and my heart, not with my opinionated jargon, and hopefully in the process we may become much more united than we have ever been.

"Politics is the science of good sense, applied to public affairs, and, as those are forever changing, what is wisdom today would be folly and perhaps, ruin tomorrow. Politics is not a science so properly as a business. It cannot have fixed principles, from which a wise man would never swerve, unless the inconstancy of men's view of interest and the capriciousness of the tempers could be fixed." [Fisher Ames (1758–1808)]