Cross Posted at Personal Infamy
I’m not going to lie, the last 18 months have been brutal when it comes to politics. I am a partisan Democrat. I care about what happens to this country. I care about the people of this country, even the ones who don’t know what’s best for them. I care about poverty, and I care about the economy.
Politics occupies a special place in my heart and mind. It’s where I exercise much of my creative intellect. My love for rhetoric and debate is derived from politics, and those same interests are what make me a good lawyer.
Writing about my personal political philosophy and ideology is fulfilling and meaningful for me. Even though I don’t only write about politics, politics drives my writing.
But right now, things seem so intractable, and the policy debates in washington are so soul crushing and counter productive that I just don’t feel driven to write about things as much. How many times can you say that Republicans are trying to destroy the economy?
How many times can you say that cutting spending in the face of a depressed economy is only going to result in more misery?
And, how many times can you say: Barack Obama, you have disappointed me, but I’m still going to vote for you?
The problems in Washington are complex, overlapping and deep. I could spend lots of time on them, and produce lots of thoughtful writing on the matter. But the thing is, these dysfunctions have real world consequences. Bad ones. People are hurting out there. They are unemployed, or underemployed. And the rich are getting richer while all of this is going on. And the debate is completely divorced from this reality. The policy arguments are about exactly how much pain we should inflict on the economy – a moderate amount, or a catastrophic amount.
It pisses me off. It’s super depressing.
Thus, the subject matter doesn’t encourage me to engage in thoughtful, clever, reasoned analysis. Because the disappointment clouds all of that stuff out. I’m not far enough removed to laugh about it. I have a stake in it. I am just entering the work force, and prospects are bleak. Am I lucky? Yes, relatively. Are my expectations drastically diminished? Yes they are.
And what new developments are there? Republicans are doing nothing but trying to cut spending on social welfare programs, and cutting taxes for businesses/rich people. That’s it. That’s the whole ballgame. There’s nothing new on the horizon that might happen.
And the electoral question, in terms of who will win what, doesn’t conclusively tilt in favor of either side at this point, which suggests that there’s no real progress coming any time soon.
So even if the gridlock, the decay, the counterproductive debate is wrought with meaningful issues to be picked apart and analyzed, I really don’t want to do it. Because, what’s the point?
Have I lost all hope? I would say no I have not. If I had lost all hope I would probably be writing more, because this whole catastrophe would be hilariously absurd if I didn’t care. But since I still do care, I’m muddling through. Pissed off.
At least football is coming back. Thank god for that.