Why I Hate Politics

I consider myself relatively informed. Well...maybe 70-80% informed. I think I'd get a solid B- on any quiz of current events or civics. I like to think about the issues, what they mean from a philosophical, religious, and practical perspective. I like to debate ideas and methodologies.

I just don't like dogmatic followers of one ideology or another. I think for me I've chosen which ideology I will be dogmatic about, and that's religion. Even though I have a very strong deep-seated belief in letting others worship "how where and what they may", when it comes to what I believe, I am pretty committed to it.

Which is where politics gets rough for me. In my world politics is something you should be able to talk about, debate about, even CHANGE YOUR MIND ABOUT. I don't like that politicians have to pick an ideology when they're 12 and never deviate from it for the rest of their lives.

At the same time it does bug me when politicians (and yes I'm talking about you Romney) seem to change their position more out of political expediency than enlightenment.

I really don't like it that I can't have a conversation with either a hard-left atheist or a hard-right conservative because both of them think I'm a wacko because of my religious beliefs.

I don't like that all the pundits make a living from turning our diverse, tapestric (it would be a good word, don't you think) nation into a binary "Red vs Blue" map.

That's enough for now. There are more things that bug me, things that if they weren't in place would make politics more accessible to the masses but also probably erode the base of people on both sides that raise all the money and get the machines going in the first place so they're probably necessary so I shouldn't complain because that's how it works anyway...whew. OK I'm done.

By the way I'm voting for Obama today.