Unless you’ve been living under a rock the last several months, you probably have a pretty severe case of GRIPES (Gaseous Ranting Instant Political Expert Syndrome). I know I do. Thank God we’ve finally got that election stuff behind us, right? ENNNNNHHHH! For the record, that’s the best spelling I could come up with for the “wrong answer buzzer” on a game show. Having witnessed a shocking number of otherwise fine people offering up a lot of FU (Facebook Unfriending) over the last few months, I’m pretty convinced that it’s because of the horse race, shirts-and-skins sort of attitude that Quadrennial Voters bring to the fray, combined with unprecedented access to the ability to publish one’s thoughts and have an audience, i.e., Facebook. “None of us is as dumb as all of us” as the old saying goes, and we seem to have done a pretty good job of proving this adage by falling prey to the manipulative and divisive messages that politicians use to secure votes. Damaging friendships over things we hadn’t even thought about only days or weeks before.
But you know what? Even if you quietly voted and didn’t get involved in the mudslinging, your job is hardly what one could call “done”. As James Bovard said back in the 1990’s:
“Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.”
Democracy isn’t just voting, it means staying engaged and taking action. And there are few better examples of dodging personal responsibility than saying things like “I’m moving to Canada!” (a nice place by the way, and otherwise not a bad idea) or “so-and-so and such-and-such is ruining our country!” I mean, c’mon. Whoever the president is, it takes a WHOLE TEAM to ruin a country. It takes lobbyists, Super PACs, the media, that mob of self-serving know-it-all do-nothings otherwise known as politicians, and most importantly, US to ruin a country.
So now that the results are in and we know who the president is, let’s try something new. No matter which side of the fence you think you’re on, the ground underneath that fence is connected. We’re all on the same Big Blue Marble, breathing the same air, drinking the same water, and keeping warm under the same sun. And we all have pretty much the same interests, like having a house, food, a job, and taking care of our loved ones.
So instead of grumbling or boasting for the next four years, why not try and prove how involved, informed, and patriotic you are by actually BEING INVOLVED AND INFORMED. It’s called citizenship! And it takes a little extra time, but you’ll be blown away by how gratifying it can be. And I’m not just Whistling Dixie, by the way. This last year I put a LOT of work into supporting a couple of ballot proposals in my state, and they not only got on the ballot, THEY WON.
And that’s one of the million reasons I love this country I live in. When you truly engage in the process in all the ways that our freedoms allow us, the sense of ownership of your destiny is almost exhilarating. And you never really feel it if all you do is vote in “important” elections.
Try being a real citizen every day. It will totally kick your ass into gear. And who knows. Maybe someday YOU could be president, and we can heap all the blame on you.
