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Politics is NOT a Dirty Word

It is a Good Game with Dirty Players

By Jack DrakePublished 2 years ago 10 min read
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Politics is NOT a Dirty Word
Photo by Samantha Sophia on Unsplash

"Politics is NOT a Dirty Word."

Wiser folk than I have said that we should appreciate politicians and political compromise more. And from experience and study, I find that I agree.

When you are done screeching, will you be ready to listen?

These folks I observed, studied, and was mentored by were anti-authoritarianists, and could be considered a form of liberal in the classical sense and sometimes even in more modern ways, yet they also had some viewpoints that could be considered conservative in many circles. And all of that depends, of course, on the welt-politick of the moment, era, and region.

Oh gosh, I wrote "liberal," so I will wait for the next round of screeching to die down. Great googamooga! I will also wait for the moaning over the word "conservative." Gosh. Considering how manipulated and warped the meanings of words such as these have become over time, and how often they are used to label "heroes" and "villains" with no attempt at a real and rational definition... maybe we should work more on understanding and less on reacting.

Breathe. It will be okay...

These folks that inspired me to look deeper into politics were serious scholars and freethinkers. They were accomplished in multiple fields of study including history, medicine, engineering, mathematics, political science, writing, military science, arts, education, languages, psychology, and so on. Polymaths, optimists, decent and generous people. Of a variety of faiths and even without.

So, why appreciate politicians and political compromise?

Politics - when done right - are the means by which we settle serious matters without having to kill each other. It's outcomes are often seen as unsatisfactory, but it is more often keeps lives livable. In this last half century of increasingly uncooperative entitlement - the "all or nothing" attitude - we have unfortunately decided that the idea of an answer we can live with until we find a better one just isn't that popular. The current trend is to instead normalize violence when you don't get everything you want, to give up on the politics of compromise and negotiation. Which is too bad, because politics is the greatest tool ever devised by a insanely violent species.

I am not talking about compromising on a person's humanity. There can be no compromise there. All of this discussion revolves around legitimate politics and how we need to approach solving problems while preserving civil liberties, not on how we can exclude other humans from having rights. All of those learned folks I admire in this matter found dehumanization abhorrent. As do I. As we move forward, it is important to have said this.

To continue:

Political answers are seldom popular, some contend. So what?

Popularity contests never accomplish much of value in the long run. It leads to populism, that "all or nothing" horsehockey. Which leads to dehumanization, and ultimately prodigious violence. Populism is not politics of a useful variety. It is inherently exclusionary and short-sighted. It certainly is not democracy in any way. Which as far as that goes, as bad as democracy can seem sometimes, it is better than any alternative our kind has tried. Democracy has given more people a better chance at life than any other form of governance.

Even when politics is poorly used, it still buys time. And time matters, not only giving us more chances at life, but often providing more data to work a solution. Time for babies to be born, and folks to fall in love, to watch a sunset... those are not small reasons to try to work things out instead of wiping the world out! Time to learn the facts, instead of relying on superstition and hunches. Time is the one resource we are born with; politics helps to let us spend more of it on living, and less on suffering.

I am sometimes not a fan of politics, for reasons that include a jaded fatigue that comes from watching people make every effort to NOT work things out. I am even less of a fan of internecine conflict. I loathe war, riots, pogroms, genocide... the things that happen when politicians fail at their job. I would rather we bumble around than be burned to the ground. That drop at the edge of the cliff? Yeah, pretty steep. Nope, can't see the bottom. Probably sharp rocks down there. Those people who fetishize violent and apocalyptic "change" that they think will benefit their chosen side have sold out on their own humanity. They fail to understand that you have no idea what will come to pass once the war starts, who will be hurt, what will be lost.

For now, I maintain my political ideology as being personalized for one - without labels - free to support what is right by the best data and effort I can muster. Those folks that started me in politics, they had the same basic sort of ideology, except theirs was by necessity and integrity their own, personalized and unique. That individuated honesty of thought and outlook is a feature, not a bug. It grants a partial immunity of sorts against being caught up in a mob. Our diversity will always be stronger than one singular and exclusionary idea promulgated by loud-mouthism. Politics when honorably pursued brings all our voices to the table; we should each make sure our individulism is up to the task!

All associations are inherently ephemeral, as all things change. There are times to get together as allies, and there are times to resist the collective. Group think is non-thinking, because we are not hearing all voices. Ego-centric thinking is non-thinking, as unshared thoughts are not a contribution. The truths we arrive at should be unified and adjusted through consensus appropriate to the moment's evidence and needs. One view imposed by authority is not unity! Voluntary participation done in good faith, sincerely, can move mountains!

Understanding the value of politics does not mean unconditional support for its institutional flaws and its - at times - egregious behavioral theatrics. It is simply a basic acknowledgement that things could be worse, even when they are bad.

Can we each become big enough people to lose a little, gain a little, and LIVE to have another chance at the same?

I don't know. Populism and base tribalism have burrowed deep, and mangled so much. I can live with buying time, and do, every day. So much that is done day to day in the governance of things is unsatisfactory to me, and some of those policies I truly believe are unsustainable, if not unconscionable! There will have to be corrections, one way or another. I would rather those corrections came along through discussion, compromise, and adjustment... rather than riots, pogroms, and genocide.

Whether you realize it or not, you are part of politics, too. It is important to ask yourself some questions: What good governance do you bring to the table, what leadership, what statesmanship? Do you have the moral character to rise above the "all or nothing" mental gymnastics of hypocritical justification, and go to the table willing to accept less than you want, if it is better for all or even just buys time? Are you willing to listen to those you disagree with? Can you be intellectually honest enough to admit when you might be wrong? Can you refrain from dehumanizing those who disagree with you long enough to find some common ground?

Politics will be as good or bad as we are, as clean or corrupt as we are.

Garbage in, garbage out.

I am tired of hearing people clamor for this "savior" or the next to come to power and "save the country." It should be an office, not "power." An administration or representation, not a regime. Stop demanding kings and/or queens! We should seek justice not vengeance. Stop putting your own responsibilities onto the backs of our representatives, governors, judges, and bureaucrats. You wanna know who can save this nation, this world?

You.

It starts with you. Not by making signs and buying bumper stickers and hats, but by being the best person of character you yourself can be, by doing your honest, level best everyday at whatever you do, by having patience with the faults of your fellow humans, and by embracing kind tolerance for that which does not easily agree with you. Challenge yourself. Then challenge your side to find common ground with other sides and work from there!

But it starts with YOU!

All those signs, hats, bumper stickers, and speeches will only matter if you can live up to the ideals you promote. And encourage that same in others! Do not give your "side" a free pass!

Regardless of who is in what office - for me - the goats need hay, children need schooling, life goes on. And if all the demagogues' doom and gloom -that so much power and profit for a few can be found in! - comes to pass, well, we will meet that as it comes. It is better to work hard to keep it from happening in the first place. The same things that needed done yesterday will need done tomorrow. We cannot become so fixated on one tree that we forget the forest. New crises will arrive in time, but so too will the knowledge to meet them.

I would rather keep talking than start shooting. I can't un-pull a trigger but I can learn from all types of mistakes, expand my awareness and understanding, make amends for bad positions, and try to find better ones. But I can't un-pull that trigger! I can't. Busting a cap or splitting wigs should be the last option, not the first! Whether domestic or foreign policy, dialogue is superior to destruction. Burning it down is no answer; the problems will still be there!

Leave room for your enemies to become your friends. It can be done, if you both do the work. The work starts by listening, and proceeds by giving each other enough space to live. You can only do your own part. Try understanding first, condemning last.

"Politics" can be dirty, but it is not a dirty word. It is our best chance as a species to not only survive, but thrive. We should honor that by being better at it, starting with ourselves. If you think you have all the right answers and the opposition has none, you are part of the problem and ill-prepared to be part of the solution. You need to ask better questions if you can. Can politics be dirty? Depends on the players. But lets be real: violent conflict is pretty grubby, too... and worse. Far worse.

Keep talking, keep listening, and things will have a better chance to work out. Many humans keep getting better at this, believe it or not. Setbacks come and go, advancements happen. We are deep within a setback phase right now, and I have normal human concerns and fears, but when I look at the trending averages over time, I can see that the species has improved its ability in some ways to live with each other. As we are challenged by emerging ideas, technology, and events we will hammer out new answers and develop new understandings. We will progress, we will grow.

Politics could be boiled down to just being a matter of doing what you would want done to you - implemented on a broad plain, if we let it. Too often we are in the rut of doing the opposite at the behest of those who live outside of the rules of their own making..

When we fail to do this politics thing right, people die and there are great sufferings. It is big mess because we are a messy breed of creature. A weird group of beings who found a way to live together without killing each other, mostly. And we can get even better at it, given a chance. But if we give up on politics, only brutality will remain.

Live and let live. Keep talking. Always be learning. Buy time. Appreciate the folks trying to grind out solutions.

Politics is talking instead of killing. That is an idea worthy of support.

-- J.R.H.

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About the Creator

Jack Drake

It is what it is.

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