I'm Apathetic. It's All Copasetic. (LJ Idol)

[crysthewolf]

I should care about politics.

 

I should!  That's the way I understand it, anyway.  The elections are all over the news, folks EVERYWHERE are talking about who's running for this and that and how they're either going to ruin everything or fix everything... and I should care.  I'm CERTAIN I should care.

 

But the fact is, I don't.

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not COMPLETELY apathetic.  I mean, I pay attention.  I take notes on the debates and the conventions and all of that good stuff.  I listened to the speeches from both the Democratic and Republican conventions (I'd have caught the Libertarian convention if I'd known it existed...).  But in the end I always end up coming back around to the same conclusion.

 

Yes, I am certain that who gets elected into office matters.  And yes, I am going to vote.  But beyond that... frankly my dear, I don't give a damn.

 

No, that doesn't mean that I don't care about "the issues".  Actually I care about a LOT of issues.  I care about women's rights.  I care about equal opportunity.  I care about the GBLT community and whether my friends are allowed to get legally married and who's feeding my friend when he's out of a job.  I care about the rights of religious minorities.  I care about the separation of Church and State.  Yes, I give a damn about these things.

 

The PROBLEM is, I don't think that the government gives a damn.

 

And why should they?  We're a large country.  We have states for a reason.  I'm not going to jump on a platform about whether or not you should join this party or that party because they do or do not advocate "small government", but I don't for a moment think that a BIG government, the Federal government, has the wits or the will to take CARE of the issues that I care about.  What I'm saying is, I think that politics are damned near useless.  We've got a bunch of people with mud-for-brains who generally DON'T give a shit about you or me or Joe on the street begging for change (pennies-and-quarters-and-please-make-the-world-a-better-place-so-I-have-a-reason-to-live-in-it), and we pay them millions of dollars out of our incomes to babysit us.  I'm sure that there are a couple of big-heads in government who got into it to change the world.  I'm sure there are people who care.  But they are so dwarfed by the people who are just interested in pressing their agenda that it's almost impossible to find them.  SHOULD they care?  Because we're dumb enough to keep going along with it?

 

I do not advocate violence.  I do however believe that something needs to give.

 

Vote.  Yes, please, vote.  Vote if it means something to you even a little bit.  Jump on the bandwagon of your choosing because someone said something that you can believe in, even for a little while.  Hope.  Hope it makes a difference and hope because that's what the people around you really need most from you.  Dream, of a better future, while still being willing to work with what you have right now.  Think.  For goodness sake THINK.  Think about what we can do to solve the utter stupidity of putting people whom we never met in charge of our hopes and dreams.

 

Because, wake up folks... most of the stuff you're seeing on TV about this candidate and that congressman is bullshit.  So yes, put something into the system now... but stop using all of your emotional, physical, and economical resources to get behind a building that is falling apart.  Let it go... and in the meantime, put some brainpower into how to make a new one.

 

I can't bring myself to care about the crumbling, failing empire.  I care about the people in it.

--entry for week two of season 5 of LJ Idol--

Comments

[baxaphobia.livejournal.com]

"I care about the people in it".
bravo!

[crysthewolf.livejournal.com]

Why tank you. :)

[dabhug.livejournal.com]

Good job.

[mycybertuffet.livejournal.com]

By the by, according to the very smart-sounding research scientist I heard on NPR, by and large politicians actually do try very hard to accomplish what they say they're going to do during their campaigns, contrary to conventional wisdom.

And also, by the by, politics - and BIG, BIG government - were what it took to solve the Great Depression. Before that though, they tried the free-market, do-nothing approach - also known as Hooverism.

[crysthewolf.livejournal.com]

I don't want you to take offense at this at all, and you know I appreciate everything that you say... but I didn't really write this to start a political debate (or fuel one) about which-is-better-big-govnt-or-small-govnt. There are merits to both, these are just my thoughts. My undereducated thoughts, frankly. To be honest they're not really WORTH a debate.

It's an LJ Idol entry. you can check out the contest at http://therealljidol.livejournal.com . The topic for this week was "Apathy", and this was just what I was feeling kindof apathetic about today. ;) Not ENTIRELY apathetic, but a bit.

I just don't think that the government has my best interests in mind. I'm not a Libertarian really because I don't think that Libertarianism really WORKS in this day and age. But I don't think that the govn't has my best interests in mind. And that's really all.

[mycybertuffet.livejournal.com]

Ah ... sorry about that. My bad.

[crysthewolf.livejournal.com]

Your cool. ;) It was my bad. I said I was done talking politics and then I talked some politics. It was just all I could think of for the contest.

[mycybertuffet.livejournal.com]

And, "big government" (in conjunction with a basically capitalist system) is what allows most Western European countries to have the highest health AND overall happiness indexes in the world.

[crysthewolf.livejournal.com]

And to be fair, I don't think that the politicians campaigning for "small government" have my best interests in mind either. To me they're trying to get ahead by appealing to people's desire for freedom and to make their own decisions. It's more money more power, and frankly I think that they're all full of bullshit.

[shadowwolf13]

I love that attitude! :)

[cori-chronicles.livejournal.com]

Yeah, this pretty much sums up my own views.

[lilmissmagic71.livejournal.com]

I'm finding this sentiment to be more and more prevalent among the masses... *sigh*

great post!

[xo-kizzy-xo.livejournal.com]

:nodding in agreement:

[trollied-dollie.livejournal.com]

Very interesting take on it all. And sadly, pretty damn near the truth.

[johnmill79.livejournal.com]

I so agree with this.

[brightflashes.livejournal.com]

::nods::

I really like your post. :)

[agirlnamedluna.livejournal.com]

*nods* even in much smaller places like Belgium I get the same idea about politics. There are those who try, and there's those who pretend they try too, though.

[azikale.livejournal.com]

Loved the last two lines more than anything I've read so far this evening. Thanks for such a great post!