January 25th, 2010
Because of my tree-hugging, dirt-workshipping ways, people tend to assume that I am a liberal / progressive / Democrat.
I no longer know what any of those words mean, and maybe more importantly I no longer care. I do know that they are connected to non-stop efforts to raise money and win elections, which I am also coming to care very little about.
The same goes for conservative / Republican. I think that there are alleged values from both categories that resonate with me…and I have considered myself to be both a Republican and a Democrat during my life. The problem is that neither side ever delivers on anything real and now I consider myself to be neither. I am not going to invest my civic and commuity aspirations with fundraisers and marketers, and I see little else in organized politics today.
Political parties are good at raising money and running campaigns…very little else. The same goes for politicians. I am seriously considering not voting again…ever.
We probably expect far too much from those we elect and demand far too little. And there is probably a bit of cognitive dissonance at work here.
If my city councilperson, mayor, governor, senator and president are responsible for everything…then I am responsible for nothing. I can look around my community / city/ country and put all the blame with someone else. Ths is convenient, neat and orderly…it allows me to be concerned about the right things without having to do anything…other than demonstrate my disgust at politicians.
(Kind of like I am doing right now.)
Politics is kind of like professional sports. You can be a raving fan, get all dressed up in the right colors, throw big parties and spend a lot of money…but regardless of who wins, the only thing that changes is who wears the ring.
I live in Omaha, NE and occassionally we have a hard fought, high profile election. Everyone picks their man (and when I say “man” I mean “man) and battles it out with yard signs, letters to the editor, etc.
But regardless of who wins, nothing changes…at least regarding the issues that I care about. Maybe I care about the wrong issues?
Lets take issues related to diversity and inclusion for instance…
The Omaha World Herald and other organizations have in the past several years tried to some interesting facts about our community:
Omaha has one of the highest African American povery rates in the country.
- 30% of African American families live in poverty compared to 10% for white families
- 40% of African American children live in poverty
- 4% of Omaha businesses are African American owned
- African American unemployment is 10.5% compared to 3.1% for white families
Omaha women are losing ground in terms of business and political leadership.
- Omaha ranks third in the U.S. for percentage of women in the work force, but 49th in percentage of women holding managerial or professional positions.
- In 2006, 84% of women surveyed said a male-dominated corporate culture was the number one obstacle to their success in the workplace.
- In the last decade, the number of women in elected positions in Douglas County declined from 34% to 29%.
There is also evidence of disparities and disconnect with GLBT populations in Omaha, Latino and Hipanic populations as well as Omaha’s growing refugee resettlement populations from all over the world. I do not see these issues as belonging to one party or another because they are connected to issues of business, health, safety, innovation and every other aspect of community.
Is any of this a burning issue with any community leaders from either party (elected or otherwise)? No. It is not. Sure, political and business leaders show up at the right fund raisers and say the right things on MLK Day, but that is about as far as it goes.
When we decide to build convention centers, baseball stadiums, and new overpasses, they get done…regardless of cost. Yet nobody in political office can bring themselves to focus on the nature of our relationships with each other as a community. And this oversight is incredibly costly to us.
We can no longer focus on the things that we want at the expense of the things that we need. This is why politics is not for me, it is a discipline that appears to not have the courage to make this distinction.
I personally will stop looking in that direction for solutions, progress or even real concern. I will take greater responsibility for the outcomes that I can influence and I am going to begin immediately.
Be good to each other.
I vote Joe.
I’m struggling with a number of institutional answers to basic questions lately—seems to me, our institutions have had a few thousand years to come up with a solution.
I take it you’re done waiting…?
I usually recoil when someone talks about not voting, but you make a compelling case for ignoring the team sport that American politics has become and instead taking direct action.
"neither side ever delivers on anything real" is a statement I disagree with. I understand your frustration, but things do get delivered. Unfortunately, more often than not what is delivered does long-term damage to society in the interest of some short-term financial gain.
You’ve given me a lot to think about. I usually feel pretty good about voting. It’s possible that that’s partly because it makes me think I’ve done my civic duty, and I can go back to the daily grind and let the government deal with the big issues.
When thoughtful people bow out of the processes of representative government, the remaining thoughtful people have a much harder fight against the zealots, the manipulators and the grossly self-interested.
Of course we know that this is not true: "Political parties are good at raising money and running campaigns…very little else." We know that this is not true because we see lobbyists for corporations jockeying for influence with political leaders, hoping to gain a return on their time- and money-investment. They haven’t given up; they know that government still works. What frustrates us most is not the sense that nothing matters, but that we the unorganized majority — with less to offer than a big corporation — are too frequently irrelevant to those that claim to represent us.
I think the answers are threefold:
(1) to acknowledge the power of organized grassroots movements, unions and representative institutions in achieving what each single voter cannot;
(2) to honor history enough to embrace both the inevitability of change and the slow pace of change (yes, it can be frustrating, but as a black bi woman living in Germany, I am living testimony that the worst histories and repressions do yield to progressive ideas); and
(3) to commit to participation as an example to those that follow (because children need more to believe in than the stories of cowards, abstainers and aggressors).
Don’t let the economic- and political terrorists of our time keep you from doing a life of good.
Thanks Tammi, Eric and Jason for reading and commenting. Still struggling with my thoughts a bit on this issue and you guys have given me some additional things to think about. I cannot help but believe that our institutions (not just political parties, but businesses, schools, hospitals, organized religions.etc.) are failing horribly to deliver on their promises today…I want to be a part of changing that, but I guess what is not clear to me is whether that is done most effectively from within or from without. Thanks again.
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I just want to laugh when they hear that…Democrat or Republican ?????????
actually are some people who have put their hands on power and interests…and we are Republicans and Democrats