I really have no idea how interesting (or horrendously boring) the sudden proliferation of posts falling into my ‘politics‘ category is, but in all honesty, it’s been all sorts of fascinating for me when I stop to step back for a moment and look at myself.
Until recently, I’ve never been overly politically minded, or even very politically conscious. I knew my general outlook leaned toward the liberal side of things, of course, and I’d occasionally make random grumbling noises when I saw or heard about something that I found excessively stupid or aggravating, but that was generally about the extent of it. For all too much of my life, I lived in something of a bubble of my own creation — I had my world, and my friends, and most things outside of that bubble just didn’t get much thought.
It was during the 2000 Gore/Bush presidential race that this started to change for me. I’d given up watching television quite a long time ago (roughly 1990 or so, I think), but I went ahead and got a cable subscription at that point so that I could actually pay attention to the debates. While Gore wasn’t nearly as impressive as I hoped, even then Bush worried me, and I wanted to see if the impressions I’d picked up until that point bore out. Unfortunately, they did — Gore still didn’t impress me as much as I hoped, but Bush worried me more and more every time he opened his mouth.
Watching the rest of the race was an exercise in both fascination and frustration, and by the end when the popularly elected candidate lost due to the ridiculous intricacies of the electoral college system, I more or less threw up my hands in frustration and tuned out again. The cable subscription was turned off, and I went back into my bubble — not quite as much, though. Too much was happening for me to be able to justify tuning out as much as I used to.
Then came 9/11, and suddenly it was impossible for me not to pay attention anymore. There were times when I wanted to tune out, of course, and some of my friends did just that, but I couldn’t do that anymore. Things have gotten too big, too important, not to have some idea of what’s happening.
Suddenly, I’m reading political websites on a regular basis. I’m paying attention to news from all over the world. More than just reading and ranting about things, I’m taking the time to participate when I can by going to rallys around town. I’m looking into the various candidates for the 2004 election cycle, and may have found one worth supporting in more than a “yeah, he seems interesting” lackadaisacal sort of way.
It took me nearly thirty years to get here, but I’m here now. None to sure where the road I’ve stumbled upon is going to lead, but — as frustrating and frightening as it is at times — really enjoying the new scenery, so to speak.
There’s a whole world out there that I’m a part of, and it’s obviously time for me to start acting like I’m a part of it.
I hope this doesn’t bore you all too much in the meantime. I promise to still make my usual inane posts from time to time in the midst of all this. ;)