Now that the election is over I found myself thinking “phew, now I can watch the X Factor tonight in peace and return to normal life.” What does that say about me, besides my questionable choice in television programming? Am I alone in in the fact that my self-absorption is more important to me than continued political involvement?
Don’t get me wrong; I am all about the discourse. Talking about politics makes me feel like I am actually doing something. Kind of like how I talked about using cloth diapers for my baby. I can talk until I am blue I the face, but then my balls might get jealous.
This is what I think the real issue with political involvement is. The methods of civic engagement are negligible. What can I do to have a real impact besides vote??? I guess I could go to more town meetings, but those are insanely boring and would cut into the time I would rather be doing anything else in the world but being at a town meeting.
The problem with politics is that it is hard enough governing your own life, let alone figuring out how to be involved in governing the country. Think about your average every day thoughts. I am pretty sure they revolve around you, and those you are responsible for/have to deal with every day. These greater meta-issues are easy to talk about, read about, or debate over Faceook, but to actually do something about them feels next to impossible. Yes I believe in campaign finance reform… so how do I make that I happen…I have no fucking clue.
In a way isn’t that why we have a government in the first place? So the average human doesn’t have to really think about anything beyond their immediate concerns? We vote representatives of our interests into office so we don’t feel the pressure to do anything about those said interests. “Hey political candidate, I care about the environment so my kid doesn’t grow up in a shit hole. Would you mind fixing that please? Thanks”
Is that it? I mean I can buy all my eco organic morally superior products, but am I doing all I can do? I can volunteer my time cleaning up my local park but does that mean no more hurricane Sandy’s will come around to eat up the country?
I want to breath a sigh of relief that the guy I really didn’t want to be president isn’t, but I kind of feeling like a loser at prom. Just standing there, shuffling my feet, wondering if anyone cares I am even at the party.
Yeah so now life can go back to normal, but maybe it shouldn’t? Maybe life should go somewhere else? Like towards some sort of tangible way people can shape their futures beyond just hoping the person you vote into office does it for you.
