Talking Politics

I have profoundly mixed feelings about talking or writing about politics.

On the one hand, politics can be an extremely important issue, strongly influencing our lives and our "pursuit of happiness".  On the other hand, politics has become SO polarized, and so mired in slogans and over-simplifications, that expressing disagreement with someone's political views can cause them to automatically discount everything else you have to say, and in fact change your personal relationship with them forever.

I have stated elsewhere in this blog that there is one and ONLY one central political "issue" -- the question of the proper role of government in our lives.  I have also stated that this question rarely gets asked, because people tend to believe that the answer is obvious.

A recurring theme of this blog is the idea that communication can help us resolve our differences and solve our problems.  Unfortunately, what passes for political "discussion" these days is often mostly both sides reciting well-rehearsed distortions and over-simplifications of each others' positions, while refusing to agree on ANYTHING and insisting that the truth is far from complicated.

In fact, we, as a nation, now accept an alternative view of reality -- the view put forth by politicians.  If we want to know whether a certain asteroid will strike the earth, we listen not to astronomers and astrophysicists, but to Congressmen and Senators.  If we want to know the best way to win a war, we listen not to soldiers and generals, but to our politicians.  And if we want to analyze our economy, and the problems and solutions facing our economy, we listen not to economists and those who have spent a lifetime studying economics, but instead to our political leaders.

Personally, I find this all to be quite exasperating.  I freely admit that I do not have the answers, but I also recognize when OTHER people do not have the answers.  Sadly, we seem to be living in an age of increased personal certainty, when people are more and more convinced that THEY are RIGHT.  (Hmmm ... sounds like a topic for a future blog-post.)

My frustration with political discussion leads me to want to talk about it and write about it ... but then I fear that I will end up shutting down communication, rather than assisting or enabling it.  And if I shut down communication, then I am part of the problem rather than part of the solution.

The problem is amplified somewhat by my strong belief that the truth tends to be complicated.  Many of the most difficult issues facing us today are deeply complicated, and I will oppose anyone who argues that the answers are clear-cut, even if I personally agree with their "side" of the issue.  That's a complicated idea.  To re-state, even if I AGREE with your position on gun control, or abortion, or Israel, or same-sex marriage, I will DISAGREE with you if you claim that the issue is not complicated.

The result of all this is that I end up with strong feelings about politics, and I enjoy actually communicating about politics (though I hate "spin" and distortion and over-simplification), and I end up wanting to WRITE about politics ... but then I end up being reluctant to post political writings in a blog.

This is compounded by the fact that I am painfully aware that words are inherently unclear, and anything ANYONE writes can probably be twisted to the point that it bears no resemblance to their true belief -- so if you WANT to twist my words, and claim that I believe something I do NOT believe, you will probably be successful.  But that is always the case with words, and not limited to politics.

So, as America hurtles once more toward a possibly world-changing election, I once again resolve to try to be bolder about writing about politics.  I suppose we should ALL try harder to actually COMMUNICATE about politics -- that is, actually trying to UNDERSTAND each other rather than demonize each other, and actually trying to figure stuff out rather than simply insisting that WE are RIGHT.

Truth is complicated.