I get it a lot. “Oh, I don’t pay attention. I hate politics.” It makes me want to bash my head into a wall. Or someone else’s head into that wall, until they get a clue.
I hate politics too. Dear God, do I hate that crap. All the weaseling, the backbiting, the “well he did that ten years ago and that makes it no big deal that I did this now!” and the “Yes, I cheated on my third wife with six hookers but dammit marriage is a sacred institution and those gays will sully it!” All the lies and misinformation and the things people know are true but really aren’t anywhere close, like the idea that Social Security is bankrupt and/or part of the deficit problem. The WMDs in Iraq. The “death panels.” The “ground-zero mosque.”
And I really truly hate that when you look at the elected officials on a national level, it’s a glaring wall of straight white men staring back at you. Here and there a woman or a Latino or an African American–but does anyone think our leaders actually represent us?
*ahem*
Who likes politics? I don’t know anyone who does–including the most politically-active people I know. Here’s the thing, though–do you breathe?
Politics affect you.
This morning I signed a letter of support for new rules the EPA is trying to enact to limit how much mercury can be dumped into the air. Lobbyists are already trying to weaken the regulations.
Yes, mercury. Apparently right now they can do what they like. Hands up if you think trusting corporations to act for the public health is a great idea?
Politics is stuff you care about decided by other people.
Did you know that some in Congress are trying to say that the EPA doesn’t have the right to regulate greenhouse gases? Whether you believe in climate change or not (like it’s a fucking matter of faith and not science but anyway…)–whether you think scientists have it right or not, think about that.
Other nations have looked at the facts presented and believe something needs to be done now. Other countries can’t make us clean our asses up. But there are things they could do that would slow the CO2 build-up in the atmosphere. Things I think we’d really rather they not resort to. Maybe you do think “global warming” is all a myth. You’re in the minority there, and some of those who follow the science have the power to do something about it.
So what? You vote, right? You elect the guy or girl you trust to make decisions for you, and that’s enough.
It’s not enough.
In Michigan, the governor now has the power to fire your elected official. Yeah, it’s just Michigan. Just a big state, giving a ton of power to one man. Guess what? It’s going to spread. He got it passed, didn’t he? Did you even hear about it? Do you think you’d hear about it if it happened in your state?
Probably not, if you’re ignoring politics. Not until too late.
Do you work for a living? This stuff affects you. Like weekends? Thank a union thug. Want your kids in school instead of in a factory? Thank a union “fat-cat.” Do you even know why I’m talking about unions?
Pay attention. Please.
People with no conception of how we live are making decisions about how we live. They lie in pretty soundbites and busy people working hard and taking care of their lives and their families think they know what’s going on.
It’s not that hard to get at the truth, and it doesn’t take that much to keep up.
Yes, civic action is increasingly afflicted by the same perfectionist tendencies that afflict our efforts to live green or to raise healthy, happy, responsible citizens. There’s always some way to do it “better.” So effing what? All we can do is the best we can. That encompasses the fact that our ‘best’ changes from day to day. Today I can type up a blog ranting at anyone who will read to pay attention. Tomorrow maybe the best I’ll manage is a re-tweet to pass the news of something I think people need to see.
If we all did the best we could every day, even with changing values of ‘best,’ we could change the world. Your best doesn’t have to match anyone else’s. You don’t have to be better than anyone at it. You just have to try, and we’ll succeed.
You and I probably don’t agree on everything–but I’ll bet you we have a lot more in common with each other than with, say, Rupert Murdoch. Or David and Charles Koch. I’d much rather we were the ones deciding our future–wouldn’t you?
My name is Kiley and I’m a union thug. I’ve been a proud, dues-paying member of AFSCME/WFSE for five years. You want to come at me about state/federal administration employees making too much money? Go ahead. I support two people on my one income, I work all twelve months of the year but I only get paid for elevn, and I qualify for food stamps. You want my income? Then pay for my f-ing Welfare benefits.
I get hot when people try to attack state workers. We do not all make a bazillion dollars a year. Most of us are struggling to get by just like everyone else. Our union is trying to combat a 3% salary reduction right now. You know what happens if I take a 3% salary reduction? I get evicted, I starve, and I have to go live in tent-city Nicklesville. THIS is what our tax payers want for the everyday people. You think NPR and DSHS funding cuts are going to help? That’s just a drop in the deficit bucket. Open your eyes, people- conservatives have been waiting a damn long time to cut these programs, and their time has finally come. Are you really going to let them get away with this?
I think the main reason I avoid politics is because I’m so damn dissapointed in the voters in my state. They voted down all of the tax initiatives last November, along with a public transit proposition last month, and now we’re facing a $10 BILLION dollar defecit that is only going to get filled by fire-fighters, cops, social services, public transportation, and higher education. Street crime is on the rise, drug use is on the rise, and these people whine about how society is going to hell in a handbasket. Well, PAY A LITTLE MORE IN TAXES, OR QUIT COMPLAINING. We can’t fix these problems if there’s no money, and wake up America. There’s no goddam money.
I really want to sit these conservatives down and be like “When you get old, when you are dying in a hospital bed and they won’t do anything to help you because your insurance won’t cover your pre-existing illnesses and YOU cut the funding to every single aid program out there so you could line your own pockets, what are you going to do? Calmly except it when the hospital has to throw you out on the street because there’s no one to help you? Die alone in an alley somewhere because there’s no more Medicaid Part B? Don’t you deserve more than that? Doesn’t everyone deserve more than that?”
Come on. I’m willing to pay more in taxes to help people out. Aren’t you?
I’m not in the union. I left it this year (I’m sorry now!) because I needed that $16 a paycheck.
I work ten months and I get paid for ten months. Go ahead and try to get a job for two months out of the year. Prices rise steadily, but I haven’t had a raise in three years. I support my daughter on less than $20K a year. My cushy healthcare takes $250 a paycheck that would otherwise be paid to ME, and I pretty much never use it because who can afford a $25 co-pay whenever they want?
This is the stuff that makes me want to bang my head in frustration. How can people believe things so patently and demonstrably untrue?
Because billionaires are spending millions to make them believe it. NPR isn’t where the money is. Taking away Headstart will make it harder for people to go to work should they find jobs. ExxonMobil and Bank of America paid less than $3 corporate taxes in 2009, and the answer to the deficit is to take food from babies?
I don’t think so.
*edit to add: hell yes, I would pay more in taxes to support food for babies and Headstart and all of that. My point would be that I’m not where the money is. Shared sacrifice should be shared.