11. The One Reason To Like Politics
I’ve given you 10 reasons to not like politics in my previous posts. But there is one reason to like politics. It indicates that we are living in a healthy democracy. Yes, we occasionally get a cold, maybe even the flu, but we seem to always muddle through. If you take away the bitter attacks, the self-aggrandizing, the petty behavior, the bickering, the condemnations, and the verbal assaults, it’s most likely a sign we are living in a dictatorship. Sure, political shenanigans would still be taking place, but they would be behind the scenes. In a democracy, all its dirty laundry gets hung up in public where everyone can see and smell it. Gross as that may be, a dictatorship is FAR WORSE! It’s more akin to having your head stuffed in a dirty unflushed toilet. There may be no public contention amongst the leaders, but there is also no public say in how the country is run. Everything is decided by the dictator and his minions. The public either goes along or goes to jail.
But things seem to be getting worse in our country, so when should the
rebellion begin? Well, there are many opinions about this. You may recall from
history that Thomas Jefferson famously said, “The tree of liberty must be
refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” In other
words, occasionally patriots must be willing to put their lives on the line to
oust tyrants. The question is: “How do we know when that time has come?”
I once heard a radio talk show host, who was a big believer in liberty,
criticize the radical anti-Washington state militias. The caller couldn’t
understand why the host wouldn’t want to have people on the ready in case they
are needed. The host responded by saying that we will know the time has come
for militias when we no longer have the power to elect our governing
authorities. I personally believe this is a good criterion to go by. Sure, you
and others may think the time has come before then, but think about it. If the
people have the power to elect their officials and they elect people you think are
unworthy of their positions, who would support you in overthrowing those
officials? Certainly not the people who voted them into power. They would most
likely be ready to overthrow you and your cohorts for taking power by force.
History is replete with tyrants of every stripe. There seems to be no
end to those who like to exert power over others. I simply don’t understand it.
It takes all my time and energy to control my own life. I just don’t have the wherewithal
to also control other people’s lives. Yet, there are those who will devote
their entire lives to the cause of wielding power over others. Fortunately,
there have been times in history where the general populace has prevailed and a
just government has been instituted. We citizens of the USA can be thankful
that we live in a time and place where this is true. It’s obviously not
perfect. No system of government run by imperfect humans can ever be perfect.
But we do have a system that is much better than many of the others that have
existed in the past or even in the present. So, let’s not let some rotten
politics and corrupt politicians ruin it for us. Let’s realize that the power
of the people to have a say in their government is an awesome right and a serious
responsibility. Don’t help that tyrant waiting in the wings have the
opportunity to take power through our complacence.
Please VOTE!!! But only once, and only if you are of voting age, and only if you are alive, and only if you are a citizen.
