Don’t tell anyone, but I’ve taken a couple of years off from following politics. Yes, I know it’s my civic duty to follow politics obsessively. It’s my fault if the world implodes in a fiery cataclysm because I wasn’t watching. Try to understand. I couldn’t take the pressure.
My decision was sparked by conflicts with a couple of family members who I love, despite their obviously misguided political opinions. I’m pretty sure they would say the same of me. Family gatherings were starting to feel like a skirmish with the enemy.
I’d like to say that it was only the other family members who were being unreasonable, but I was there. I couldn’t help but notice my own insistence on ramming my views into the conversation with all the subtlety of a snarling dog. I don’t know what it is about politics that makes me and almost everyone I know insanely inflexible. Or perhaps, just insane.
I did vote this year. There isn't much of a contest in my state, but the party I voted for did not win on a national scale. For a moment I was tempted to spiral into the traditional depression and fear that the country will now be blasted back a couple of centuries by the wrong-headed ideas of the other party. Frankly, it’s too much effort.
Despite years of angst over national elections, I haven’t managed to force my will on the nation. I still have just the one vote.
Instead of getting depressed and fearful, I’ve decided to see it as their turn. Now, the people I disagree with in the other party, get to have that happy feeling of being represented by their government. I can think back fondly on when I felt that way and wish them well. Soon enough it will be my turn again. I’ll try not to be smug. Let the civil discourse begin!
My decision was sparked by conflicts with a couple of family members who I love, despite their obviously misguided political opinions. I’m pretty sure they would say the same of me. Family gatherings were starting to feel like a skirmish with the enemy.
I’d like to say that it was only the other family members who were being unreasonable, but I was there. I couldn’t help but notice my own insistence on ramming my views into the conversation with all the subtlety of a snarling dog. I don’t know what it is about politics that makes me and almost everyone I know insanely inflexible. Or perhaps, just insane.
I did vote this year. There isn't much of a contest in my state, but the party I voted for did not win on a national scale. For a moment I was tempted to spiral into the traditional depression and fear that the country will now be blasted back a couple of centuries by the wrong-headed ideas of the other party. Frankly, it’s too much effort.
Despite years of angst over national elections, I haven’t managed to force my will on the nation. I still have just the one vote.
Instead of getting depressed and fearful, I’ve decided to see it as their turn. Now, the people I disagree with in the other party, get to have that happy feeling of being represented by their government. I can think back fondly on when I felt that way and wish them well. Soon enough it will be my turn again. I’ll try not to be smug. Let the civil discourse begin!