That's a phrase I hear a lot from one of my coworkers. It's their standard response to things like, "Who are you voting for?" or "What do you think about the new tax?" and, "Did you like the election results?"
"Oh, whatever, you know, I'm not political. You know that."
I do, and it makes me sad. I saw a lot of people I know become energized by the recent election, whether it was because they felt they had a candidate to believe in, or they felt they actually had a say, or just because they had to stop the other guy. This coworker missed that boat.
And really, that's not the only one. There's a lot of people I talk to who just don't think of the government as something that involves them. Are they right? The government is a big, unwieldy piece of machinery, and we delegate the decision making to an extreme extent. Does that mean we're at the mercy of that machine, totally helpless?
What do you think? Does being an involved citizen make a difference? Or are we all better off not being "political?"
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For each person, life is all about something different, and for each person, a different passion is the pilot light in their furnace of a brain. For some people, helping others is their passion, and so they go to third world countries to get their hands dirty helping others to live decent lives, then come home to try to spread awareness and convert others to their cause. For some others, it's music, like a guy I work with who is a member of two bands, and a producer for one of those as well as one more. He is a walking encyclopedia of musical knowledge and the overhead radio that plays oldies almost always leads to a quip that makes you wonder how anyone would know it. For example, "Did you know that Parliament Funkadelic was actually two separate bands with the same members, but called different names because of disputes with different recording companies?" For others still, it could be business research, or the economy, international relations, or political issues. Whatever the subject matter is, these concentrations often stretch beyond points of interest or hobbies. Moreso, they form the identity of a person--who they are, what they strive for, and their own personal reason for existence--their 'sense of belonging' if you will. So for some, politics just "isn't their bag," to quote the great Austin Powers, and for those, perhaps it's best that way.
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