IMHO, yes. But largely because I'm a social science/philosophy buff... Nonetheless, the common cliches surround politics:
- Politicians are all liars....
- Nothing ever changes if I vote...
- All parties are the same....
- Politicians make promises and break them all the time..
- Democracy stinks...
I'd agree largely with these points, and to be fair, they're fact not cliches...
But there are some reasons why it make sense to pay attention to politics. I am 32, and I would have told myself at 17 these things if I had the opportunity:
- Politics affects everything. Taking liberal democracies into account, the US Congress cannot pass any law it wants, because the Constitution limits it....But then it still has powers in many other areas, even things mundane or we don't usually give a fuck about..... And constitutions can be changed to expand or limit powers, so really nothing is safe or sacred.
- Everybody in some sense relies on the state. Even if one is wealthy enough not to obtain benefits or welfare payments, they still use roads, may have gone to a state school, use state hospitals, use the police/fire/ambulance, etc. So we all have some stake in how the government runs. Say this thing with Russia escalates into an actual armed conflict. NATO countries like the USA, UK, France, Germany, Canada, etc. don't use private armed forces, do they? Not to be alarmist, but say there is another draft akin to WWI/WWII? Who would organize this? No matter what, one cannot get away from government.
- Even if politicians do lie, which is self-evident, we should be lucky we get the chance to vote every few years. Some of my ancestors were slaves, and they couldn't vote. Europeans' ancestors in the medieval period couldn't vote, and some couldn't up until only 20 years ago or so. North Koreans and Saudis living today cannot vote for their leaders. IMHO, we should be grateful to have this right and privilege.....So yep, Obama was the same as his predecessors as the only "change" he brought was being non-white, but still no system is perfect. We have to accept the positives with the negative points.
So I can strongly emphasize with people who don't give a fuck about politics, but maybe there are some points to heed/ponder.
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Well, yes to all you said - including the Obama part, but excluding the "NATO countries like the USA, UK, France, Germany, Canada, etc. don't use private armed forces", the obvious answer is no, except for drug lords army's and rebels, no army in the world is not state financed.
Yes... and?
My point was too emphasise state dependeb0nce but ok..
No matter what you think of politicians, we need to pick the lesser of two evils, and I'm tired of people not voting or just voting for the one they think is cooler. Get informed people!
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