Why I Choose To Care About Politics

I always find it interesting to hear from people who don't seem to know much about politics, or even seem to care. The next POTUS is to them (seemingly) as meaningless as discovering water on Mars. I am sure there is some scientific or anthropological explanation for why some people fervently follow the political world in the U.S. and abroad while others seem to think of it as a nuisance, or even something detrimental to society. To me, however, politics explains why the U.S. is the way it is today, and why someone like Donald Trump, due to the aforementioned apathy that has become so common in our society, might even reach the pinnacle of political success in America. It's not inherently good or bad - but it's something that is natural for human beings to pursue at various points in our evolution. It is our instinct to create an environment that should be improved. The catch is obviously that citizens don't always agree on how.

When I really think about why politics matters to me, however, I cannot pinpoint a specific time in my life where it started to, nor a single or set of reasons. It's not as if I was born with an innate desire to absorb the names and titles of U.S. Senators, House members, committee chairs and more. I assume interest in politics is partially learned from parents, friends, life experience and observation, or combinations of these. I also can safely assume our interest really ramps up when we begin our careers and pay more taxes. As we increase our share of investment into society, we continue to pay more attention to how our investment might be returned in some fashion, whether it's through better roads, better jobs, more educational improvements, etc. The fact remains, how I look at politics is vastly different than many others in America.

I consider myself socially liberal, and fiscally moderate, though I still lean a bit left of center. Why? Beats me. It just seems to be where I landed on the political spectrum. I generally feel as though we should make solid, intelligent investments into our infrastructure, tax fairly across the board, focus on having the highest quality education possible, and make sure the economy is capitalistic, but fair just to name a few. I am not actually more "right" than you or anyone about my political beliefs, though I tend to think I have it pretty well figured out. But I do recognize that I have taken the time to think about the issues I care about, and I am proud of that fact. I am also not entirely respectful of others who have spent no intellectual energy plotting our their own political data points in a time where it is so easy to gather the information needed, while filtering through the BS, to form a complete opinion. How on earth could someone NOT care about education, for example? (I kind of know the answer...)

Admittedly, liking politics can feel akin to hurting oneself. It is a painful, messy and sometimes despicable process that often involves more mud-slinging than productive conversations and a push towards change. But to me, this applies to many things in life. Nothing is perfect, nor should it be. Business is like this, as are relationships. The pride for me comes when legitimate changes are made that positively impact a lot of people. I don't even care if I am directly affected by all of these changes - I just want to see them happening. We live in the most capable country in the world, and in some ways the most complicated. For these reasons, I choose to care about politics because I want to be a productive member of this society and eventually find ways I can help to bring change and progress to it as well. -EB