I really do. Politics, along with Religion, are the two things I almost never discuss with anyone save my close friends, and even then I am very guarded in what I say. These two things are very private and I feel they color the way people view one another, and that coloration deeply affects lives. If you look back at history (something I do often) those two subjects are far and above #3 (which is of course, Money) on the Big List Of Reasons Why Human Beings Kill Each Other.
A great man, that very few Americans know about unfortunately, once summed it up best with this quote:
“Politics is the seedbed of social enmity, evil suspicions, shameless lies, morbid ambitions, and disrespect for the individual. Name anything bad in man, and it is precisely in the soil of political struggle that it grows with abundance.”
–Maxim Gorky, April 20, 1917
I agree with Mr. Gorky, whose life and work were literally destroyed by the politics and political struggle that swirled around him. You can even swap “Religion” & “religious” for “Politics” & “political” in the above quote and it still stands true. They are an unstable compound that act as accelerators with each other’s combustibility. Think C3H5N3O9. So unlike most of the Internet I’m not going to bore you with punditry on the day after an election.
That said, I love this country and relish the Constitution, which I believe is one of the finest works of societal architecture ever created. I re-read it several times a year (it is even on my iPod) and it forever inspires me and gives me hope. I am neither a Democrat, nor a Republican. Neither party represents me or my views very well and their machinations frequently disgust me. Oddly enough though most Americans fall into those two camps and narrowly define each other with those two labels, unable to comprehend somebody existing outside of them. For example, my liberal friends & family assume I’m a Republican and all my conservative friends & family assume I’m a Democrat. I’m neither. I have viewpoints that intersect theirs here and there, but I do not share even 50% of their platforms.
But I do vote, and I did vote. I look forward to the peaceful transfer of power that is the hallmark of our democracy.
I will however point you to the best bit of punditry on the web today, the irrepressible Onion: Nation Finally Shitty Enough To Make Social Progress | The Onion – America’s Finest News Source.
Gotta love, and laugh at that!
