I’ve been taking peeks at good ol’ AM talk radio lately and my two favorites are 770 “The Truth” and 1090 “Progressive Talk”–and by favorite I mean most ridiculous. Their rhetoric is absurd and clearly thrives on the demonization of the other. I wonder if the fever has risen simply because they sense their Modern categories of “truth” and “objectivity” are fading; life and politics just aren’t as simple as they would like us to believe. To stand in perfect solidarity with a single political system or party is just asking for ridicule too: we’re always right, they are always wrong. Why did parties ever come to be anyway? Anytime I hear that a bill or policy was voted down party lines I want to throw something. Of course, categories are attractive as they make life and voting simple and it seems to be how the system works: we vote for reps and then expect them to rep us, and usually within the ideology of their party. How boring.
These thoughts and hopes found me again connecting to the political philosophy of Obama; particularly those discoursed in this great article by Andrew Sullivan in The Atlantic.
Do resist the urge to tick a political box on your social-networking bio page, you’re so much more interesting than that.
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To this lad there isn’t much to cheer about when it comes to politics. I hear time and again that to bring about systemic change, to work for justice, you must be involved in the political process. I have dear friends in social work who occasionally ask for help spreading the word or emailing a congressperson, and I wholeheartedly support those on the front lines championing ideals or fighting for the less fortunate. This is the aim of politics, is it not. Generally speaking though, the political system seems to be driven by divisive propaganda and deception. And it only gets nastier the higher you go. So as I look at the current crop of presidential hopefuls, I find it hard to believe these are the greatest leaders of our time. I don’t think they are. The traditionally great leaders are probably involved in more rewarding work in education or business. Realms which, prior to the Industrial Revolution, didn’t require leaders capable of coordinating and directing masses of people but now attract those presidential types who have a sense of altruism. That leaves Washington with the power-mongering narcissists and their technicolor puppet shows.
All that being said, I do find one huge exception. Not only does he inspire me to hope in D.C. politics again, he seems legitimately humble in nature and a believer in the goodness of humanity. None of this blue-state/red-state crap. And he isn’t afraid of the Middle East or eager to bomb pariah nations. I’m quite proud of the fact he has little political experience, that’s an asset in my ledger. And, I might add, he hails from the political party I grew up slinging mud at. Someone slap me in the face. So… People change. Politics change.
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