Like America? Then put up with the politics.
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Somebody really upset me today. Not personally, but morally, in an it’s-the-principle-of-the-thing sort of way.
Today I was in a store and a local lady who I’ve known for five years but haven’t seen for several months mentioned to me that she had been abroad.
“When I returned last August, the first thing in my mailbox was a political mailer from you,” she said, like she was offended.
“Really?” I asked, a little amused and wondering where the conversation was going.
“Yeah, I was going to ask you for an apology,” she said.
We just bantered a bit politely, but after I left the store her attitude bothered me more and more.
Why in the Sam Hill would a piece of political mail offend anyone? (Just for the record, the letter I sent was to fellow Chamber members, you can see the “offensive” document here.)
So why do some people get upset about political campaigning? Seriously, if you are one of those people, look into your heart and give me an answer.
Like myself, every person I know who serves on their local City Council or Fire Board or as a Water Commissioner is doing a community service. They aren’t in it for themselves, no matter how much I may disagree with them!
Someone has to do the job. The fact that sometimes more than one person volunteers should be seen as a blessing. It gives us a choice.
So why in the heck would you be offended if one of the candidates has the temerity to ask for your vote and support?
Does democracy and the electoral system offend you that much? Does it?
Do you get weary of candidates asking for your vote?
If you answered “yes,” then shame on you.
I feel like telling you apathetic grumblers to move to some country where they have a totalitarian regime and they make those choices for you.
Citizens of our country should feel a glow of patriotism when they see campaign signs littering the landscape. They should feel lucky to live here when candidates call their homes and send them fliers in the mail. It’s our American system and it’s as close to perfect as any has ever gotten.
So the next time a candidate calls you, or stops by your house…THANK THEM!
They are doing their part in the Great Experiment that is America. It’s up to you to do your part.
If every voter actually paid attention we wouldn’t be subjected to the kind of campaigning we are exposed to. If you think about it, with only 10% of voters in the current Presidential election undecided, and about 5% undecided in the Governor’s race, all the campaigning is to those few “swing votes” in the middle who don’t know which side they are going to go with.
That means the rest of those whose minds are pretty much made up have to endure months of negative ads and campaign promises as they try to convince the last remaining voters to pencil in their name.
Sure there are people who are engaged and honestly have not decided who to vote for, but most simply aren’t paying attention…they are apathetic. Thus, the sheer volumn of campaign activity we are all subjected to is because these voters don’t care.
Think about it. Why are there campaign signs all over town? Because most voters base their decision on whose name they recognize. Does that sound like a good way of hiring our politicians?
If Dr. Evil or Dr. Dre were the only two “Doctors” whose names you recognize would you ask them to perform surgery on your mom?
Isn’t it ironic that the people who complain the most about all the campaigning are the one’s whose apathy is causing it in the first place?
September 29th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
“It’s our American system and it’s as close to perfect as any has ever gotten.”
It’s fascinating to me that … you really believe this, don’t you. I mean … are you convinced that the American political/economic system is not only the best currently among the world hundreds of nations, but is indeed the best *ever*, in history?
fascinating.
I get a bit cynical about the whole political process this time of year as well. Wanna hear something crazy? The reason I voted for Gregoire in ‘04 had nothing to do with her positions on anything. I voted for her because during the two weeks before the election, Dino Rossi’s campaign called three times to leave messages on my old school answering machine (with a tape!) all bashing Gregoire, rather than saying anything about Rossi. When I heard the third one, I decided to vote for Gregoire.
But beyond that, Dan Allender kind of nails it in this article from the ‘04 election season: http://www.theotherjournal.com/article.php?id=19
He says
“Once a person has been marked as less than human, the next assault seems less horrible and more reasonable. One need only watch the escalation of venom and vulgarity in the current Presidential race. The American people like to watch the drama of contempt. As an example, the majority of reality television shows are based on competition surrounded by exposure, shame, and rejection. It must arouse something in us to watch cruelty and contempt play out on the stage.
If we are willing to watch the election of wife, husband, parents, corporate President by the fallacious theatrics of reality television, then how long will it be before we sell political office through a reality program? As specious as that sounds, the fact remains: we seem enamored with drama that exalts the victor and demeans the reject. The more our political structure lives and dies by the sound bite and the media blitz, the more simplistic, efficient, and violent the accusations and counter-accusations will be.
Violence is a cloak that hides the wound of our desperation. How can I aid the woman raped in the Congo? I honestly don’t know. What can I do to humanize and bring care to the election process? I don’t know. But I know that I can not even begin to imagine how I can help until I proceed through the nausea to a more fundamental sorrow. I must grieve that I am of a gender that rapes. I must groan about the violence my wife and my daughters face and the harm I have brought them. I must name the smaller violations of gender that are endemic in the evangelical community. I must be able to google Congo and rape and read my own name in those stories.”
The whole article is worth reading.