For weeks now I’ve seen people commenting on Facebook about how tired they are of politics – how bored they are of political discussions – how they wish everyone would just move on and talk about something else.
Every time I hear sentiments like that I want to suggest that when everyone is tired of enjoying the freedoms they’re always getting patriotic about and all emotional about – I’ll stop talking politics. I can’t stand aggressive patriotic flag waving. I’m not a big fan of my own country these days. I haven’t been a big fan of it for most of my life. But I live here. I do enjoy freedoms that I have that people in many other countries don’t enjoy. I therefore consider it my obligation to take part in the process by which those freedoms are protected, created, fought for, and won: an interest in politics that leads to voting. Voting even on the “boring” stuff like city planning issues.
Presidential elections are some of the most important ones we have and to be bored of discussing who is running and information about either side and listening to them tackle (or not tackle) issues is more interesting and exciting to me that sports can ever be. With sports the end result is either jubilation that a bunch of grown men somehow flattened a bunch of other grown men, all of them in super stupid costumes, OR – boo hooing because your favorite team lost. There is nothing real at stake. They make more money than the president and contribute entertainment value only to their country.
Politics, on the other hand, can result in changes to our quality of life, to our morale as a country, to how many sons and daughters we lose to war, to our ability (or not) to marry the people we love. Without intense discussions and marches and arguments and rallies of a political nature – mixed race couples wouldn’t be allowed to legally marry. Can you imagine such a thing?
I can’t wait for the election to be over because the thought of having Mitt Romney as the leader of my country is making me incredibly anxious. The sooner I know the outcome the sooner I can figure out how to deal with an outcome I find intolerable and depressing. But I’m not bored of politics. I’m not tired of politics.
And I can never understand anyone who is.
On that note – I just heard Richard Murdock’s sound bite on pregnancy resulting from rape. Have you listened? Please do:
The argument that an event or situation is “as God intended” has long pissed me off. This argument is very selectively used – it only applies when Christians want it to apply. Richard Murdock says that pregnancy from rape is “something God intended”. Yeah? So you really need to argue that God also intended the woman in question to be raped. If a pregnancy that God intended must not be ended then should we be prosecuting the rapist for carrying out God’s will?
If unwanted pregnancies are “something God intended” then it must also be argued that a woman’s inability to get pregnant when she really wants a baby is also SOMETHING GOD INTENDED. So if infertility is something God intended – then why do so many Christian women use fertility drugs to get pregnant? I have been asking this question for nearly two decades. I can’t believe no one else is asking this.
It’s because it’s okay to over-ride God’s plan when it’s inconvenient or heartbreaking to YOU. But when God’s plan ruins someone else’s life – well – they can just suck it.
I don’t personally have an argument against either abortion or infertility drugs. I think both are a personal matter that should be decided by each individual woman – according to her beliefs, her situation, and her conscience.
Once again, I must insist that religion be completely left out of politics. It has no place in the governance of a country of mixed religions and belief systems. What your God does or does not “intend” has no bearing on my personal life and my decisions because I don’t believe that your God exists at all and if he does, he is your chosen spiritual guide, not mine.
I will fight tooth and nail to preserve your right to practice whatever faith you want – but I will also fight tooth and nail to prevent your faith from making rules for everyone.
I’ve sent my ballot in. My vote is cast. But I never tire of politics.