“I Don’t Like Politics” - Governing Our Lives
How many times have you heard: “I don’t really like like to talk politics” or “I hate politics”? Being a teen, it seems like a daily mantra that is chanted by people. My mom has a rule (borrowed really), the three things you never talk about at work or school: sex, religion, and politics. Why is it that so many people consider politics as a taboo?
The first thing I want to cover is really the meat of causation when it comes to the taboo-sising of politics, and that is politicians. Here in the United States, we have what is called a representative democracy, or a republic. This means that, contrary to an Athenian style of democracy, we elect officials to vote for us. They represent us in a smaller assembly and then, in turn, make laws and decisions on how we are to be governed. The problem with this in the past couple of decades is that the majority of elected officials are no longer serving their constituents, They serve what is known to as corporate donors. (I do want to cover Citizens United and corporate interest in a later blog so I won't get into it right now.) The point is, many people are frustrating with politicians and are frustrated for not being represented. Understandably so, I would accept if this was the reason for not liking politics.
The other reason why people don’t like politics, which angers me, is that it’s “boring” or ”divisive” or “stupid”. To this I say, your whole life is politics. When you get up in the morning to your alarm playing a radio channel, there are government regulations in order to ensure you can listen to your radio, that’s politics. When you pour a glass of milk for your cereal, there are regulations to ensure the quality of your milk, that’s politics. When you drive on the roads, that’s paid for by tax dollars, that’s politics. The electricity in your house is politics. Your school (if you go to school) is politics. And so on. The point is, everything in your life is politics. This is not a bad thing. Politics is not this big scary monster. It is how your life is governed. If you decide to abstain from politics, you’re giving away your freedoms.
When people say that don’t like politics, it bothers me. It bothers me to know that there’s one less vote at the pole. It bothers me when people don't pay attention to the news. It seems as though the corporations have succeeded in brainwashing generation Z with social media and fluff. How can we be a democratic society if not all our members are participating? We must all like politics, and we must all be active citizens.
- Drew
