If you can find a society in which you feel at home, and where the political and social system agree with your convictions, I wish you well. As for me, I prefer to try to work one-on-one to change people's hearts and minds. Sometimes it works; sometimes, not, but just cutting and running from an unpleasant reality has never been my style.
Right. New rule, anyone who uses the phrase "cut and run" from now on will be hanged.
But I think Corey's got a point. Our whole generation is pretty cynical about politics and the possibility for change. The defining political event of your generation was Watergate; the take-home lesson was that politicians were crooks but that
change was possible and those crooks eventually had to pay for their misdeeds (for values of "pay" equal to "get a presidential pardon"). The defining event of
our generation was watching Bush gut the country, then get all excited about Kerry (well, as excited as one can get about Kerry) and then see Bush fear-monger and negative-ad his way into re-election. The take-home lesson was ignorance is an unstoppable political force, and it's only getting more popular.
I realize that "Everyone who doesn't share my political opinions is stupid" is a classic disgruntled college kid complaint. But it's not just people who don't share my opinions. I mean, there are a lot of people who still think Saddam Hussein directly ordered the 9-11 attacks, and vote based on that assumption. There are a lot of people who aren't even aware we have a federal deficit, and vote solely on which candidate opposes gay people more. And at least they have a real reason for their vote;
many other people can't say the same.
I know people who are trying to "solve" the problem. They walk around planting "GO OBAMA!" or "GO MCCAIN!" signs in people's yards. The problem is deeper than insufficient lawn signs. I know other people involved in political debates. Yeah, even some of you. How's that working out for you? When I try it, I immediately become Part of the Problem - ie, the Guy Angrily Arguing For Liberal Views who sits opposite the Guy Angrily Arguing For Conservative Views. The problem is deeper than surface-level political disagreements. It's even deeper than whether McCain or Obama gets elected this cycle, or than the difference between the Democrats and Republicans, or than the difference between the Republicrats and the Libertarians/Greens/whoever.
The problem is human nature, American demographics, and the social and economic incentives underlying the whole system. I suspect the quickest solution is probably technological fixes to human nature, but I intend to be in a country I can be proud of while I'm waiting for them / working for them to happen. If that sounds insufficiently patriotic, so be it; I find most aspects of modern patriotism
sorta weird.
. And check out more deeply any cracks they make at the other side.
. Tina Fey as Sarah Palin, Amy Poehler as Hillary Clinton.
