Politics isn’t really a funny business

Ever hear the cliche ‘politics is a funny business?’ Doesn’t really make a lot of sense when you think about it. When was the last time you saw somebody who was highly political with a big smile on their face? Usually they’re too busy arguing or blasting other viewpoints to have that many warm and fuzzy sentiments. It’s not a happy-go-lucky obsession. Studying too much politics just makes you depressed, because all you see is injustice and all you want to do is stop the other side from spreading their blasphemy. It’ll make anyone crazy. It’s about time we turned politics upside down.

If you ask somebody about their politics, the first thing they are probably going to mention is what they’re against. ‘I’m a Republican, I’m against abortions, against gay marriage, etc….’ or ‘I’m a Democrat, I’m against war, against too much corporate power….’ Democrats hate Bush, Republicans hate Bush-haters…and there really isn’t much to be for anymore. Bickering between ideologies has hit a previously unheard of point where reasonable discourse has become impossible, until each side stews in their bitter hatred of the other until we see every liberal as a baby-killer and every conservative as a Klansman.

That is what is bound to happen when your entire argument is based on what you are against. To be against something, you need to have an enemy, a face of everything you find evil and corrupt and contrary to all you stand for. The battle is finding a way to discredit their argument and show that they are selfish/crazy/ignorant/the anti-Christ. That is quite depressing and life becomes a race to see who can destroy each other first. However, disregarding the against and trying to work on what you are for is completely different. To be for something, you need a benefactor, a person to be helped, somebody who you want to improve the situation of. When you’re for what you believe in, you disregard the other side and just try to make a difference in a positive light. Instead of hating people for not helping the poor, go volunteer at a soup kitchen. Instead of attacking war, send money to refugees. Instead of despising abortion doctors, visit a clinic and tell a pregnant woman her options. Helping people feels a whole lot better than fighting them.

Being for a cause has innumerable benefits. First of all, it reveals common ground between opposing viewpoints. There are some obvious things that after listening to political pundits for a few hours we would never even consider. As shocking as it is, very few people are in favor of the deaths of innocent people. Liberals don’t like to abort babies, conservatives don’t like to murder everyone from other countries. Very few people are completely unaffected by the suffering of others. They just have different ways of trying to deal with it…only people without a conscious have no reaction. Very few people actually oppose peace, they just have far different ways of trying to achieve it. So when the concept of what you are for is brought into a discussion, the arguments can be better expressed and we can actually try to understand each other.

What the political landscape needs most is conversation and discussion instead of lashing out. When was the last time we actually spoke civilly with someone who’s ideologies are completely different from our own about politics? Where we tried to convey that our method was better and not that they were some form of human slime who just doesn’t care about _____ group of people and who hates _____ and ______? It’s not going to accomplish anything, and is mostly used to make ourselves feel more high and mighty.

So the moral of the story is…be for something. Be for helping people and not against tearing down your opposition. What’s the point of opposing hate with hate? It’s not going to get you anywhere but into a state of rage. The media on both sides will use hatred to drive their points across and to demonize all their political adversaries. Maybe that’s good for ratings, but it’s not great for sanity. But if you want to stoop to their level, go ahead. It’s bound to make you depressed and angry and you’ll lose most of your faith in humanity. It’s not a fun viewpoint. Try to be positive and for a good cause; it’s what we all need.

~ by lettersfromsuburbia on November 21, 2006.