Political Cynicism

or: These Days vs. Those Days

I've learned a lot about politics in the past few years...

I've learned that the simple "Christian iff. conservative" relationship preached to me for years just isn't right. I can be a bleeding heart liberal to my conscience's content and know that Jesus hasn't left my heart, although it'll be a miracle if most of my church and/or James Dobson or Pat Robertson figure that out.

I've done some lobbying, even visiting The Hill personally, and have seen how much of this "Democracy" is just a big insider game. Have you ever tried to schedule an appointment with those people? Did you know how much crap paper gets passed around about who is already planning to vote for what, what those things are called, and how to go about finding which person on a staff takes care of them so that you know who your appointment should be with? Do you know that there is basically an ettiquite for lobbying, one that you'll only find by word of mouth, and if you don't follow it then your pitch is likely to be ignored? If you said no to any one of those questions, congratualations! Someone who is supposed to represent you just ignored your cause! But thanks for sending an e-mail anyway.

The people who run for offices are generally slimeballs. They all lie. They all manipulate. None of them are fit for the jobs they take. They all act like total dolts to anyone with two thirds of a brain. Well, maybe all of them except Tom Coburn and Bob Casey. maybe. Of course, they all can get away with this because even people with five thirds of a brain-- a whole brain more than you need to see the lunacy!-- have other things in their lives that need attention. I am lucky to have a position as haute academique, a position that gives me plenty of time to Think, an activity that is a danger to shallow anything, including all of politics.

So, then I am left to ask, why has politics gone downhill so much in the past few years?

This is a natural question, of course, but recently I've decided it isn't the correct one. I have a simple reason for that conclusion, too. People I talk to of all ages, regardless of their views unless they're stuck on some particular person like JFK or Reagan or Ike and "if only he were still with us...," often will have a number of years that politics has been going downhill. That number of years, when they have it, always seems to be their age minus about twenty.

My conclusion, then, is twofold. First, politics has always been going downhill. Second, you don't realize this until you're turning into something resembling a grown-up.

As with most things, I have no solutions, just a gripe in the bucket.