when it comes to politics, the debate i tend to have with people my age isn’t a liberal vs. conservative one, but rather a very spirited debate about whether politics is even worth debating. an absolutely depressing number of the people i know (granted, i do live in texas, not exactly the bastion of intellectual pursuit) think that politics in itself is unworthy of consideration or care. i don’t understand this! for our generation to have so much access to information on a literally on-demand, instant basis and still not care enough about the future of their country makes me unimaginably sad. this idea that elections and the political process don’t matter because it’s all pre-determined is, in my opinion, exactly why politics DON’T matter. how can we ever stop the endless stream of rich, white guys who, even as liberals, don’t really care about the average american if we never step up to the plate and do something about it? our political system was designed to function best in the hands of the people controlled by it. if we don’t get out and vote, then of course the only people going in and out of office will be the people with the means to access it- rich, old white guys with no concept of what it means to be an average american.
it’s disheartening, it truly is. i don’t understand how anyone can expect the system to change if the people calling for the change never make the call. it’s no different than a wife who cooks dinner for her family every night but never gets input about what to make. if her husband never tells her he wants a steak, he may get stuck with chicken every night. you can’t get mad at the wife and say that her cooking is awful. she simply doesn’t know what the husband wants and, as a result, cooks whatever is good and quick or easy to clean up after. our political system is no different. the youth of today complain about having chicken every night (and, honestly, given what our government has been cooking for the last ten or twelve years, i don’t blame them), but no one wants to stand up and demand a steak or a pork tenderloin. i have no sympathy for people who won’t get active in their own governance, but the downside is that those very same people inhibit others from achieving anything. if there are ten people at the dinner table and only one or two speak up for steak and the rest are okay with chicken because it suits their needs just fine, then it sounds like we’re all having chicken. maybe if those three or four people who complain under their breath were to speak up, we’d have a vote of six for steak and four for chicken. bada bing, we’re having steak for dinner.
i don’t mind being the “crazy” or “unrealistic” girl with faith in the political system. i’ve said many times that it isn’t the system that’s failing us, it’s our country’s apathetic involvement in the system that creates failure. i truly believe that. and while i’m crazy for believing in the potential of politics, i’m not so crazy as to be blind to the corrupt and money-hungry people that have been (and currently are) in power. the system only works as well as the people put in place to run it, but without the effort of the american public to choose wisely, what do you expect?
an unfortunate side effect of our easy access to information is that we’ve become so entranced by instant gratification that we’ve stopped bothering to do anything substantial to influence our government. if it requires more effort than a tweet or facebook post, the average american just isn’t into it. the days of picketing and protesting and making our collective voice heard are over. people like to cite the vietnam war protests as an example of the inefficiency of protesting but what those people fail to realize is that people with signs on the steps of the capitol don’t get to sign the bills into law that bring our soldiers back. those people with signs do, however, let the people who do pass laws know that our collective consciousness is focused on our country’s actions and we won’t whisper our discontent. those protesters made it known that the american public is responsible for electing our officials and that they are responsible for representing us. think of the possibilities if every person you know who complains about the government and the economy and education and the wars actually took a few minutes to research both sides of the argument, armed themselves with knowledge, and made their voice heard. if nothing else, we’d send a strong message to the politicians in the system that they are no longer representing a mass who will sit back and passively allow legislature to effect them with no say in the matter. imagine if every representative and public official had the fear of not being elected, re-elected, or worse-being impeached- weighing over them every time they voted on legislature or introduced a new bill that infringed on our rights or squandered the tax payers’ money. it would be an entirely different dinner party if the guests cast their vote for steak or chicken based on the consensus of the table. personally, that’s the dinner party i’d rather attend.
