Thoughts from the Usher Podium: Politics in Perspective

I'm making an unusual change from the regular litany of gross and insulting pot-shots I usually take at sub-par movies (don't worry Batman v Superman I'll get to you soon). I would instead like to focus on politics for an all-too-brief moment. This will probably be the only time I'm going to say anything overtly political so please bare with me as I try to make one very important point. Yes I know every media source from cable, Twitter, Buzzfeed, AM radio, magazines, your local 7 PM newscast and your uncle's very angry Facebook feed has been gushing to the brim with presidential year vitriol. The overwhelming attention this particular election is getting over literally every other newsworthy event on the planet is enough to make you want to tear your hair out. Yet underneath all the doomsday forecasts that quite literally follows every single major party candidate there seems to be something even darker and dumber percolating and threatening to make our challenging but by no means insurmountable problems even worse. Yes I'm talking about the Great American Non-voter.

These people...

On face value, the disengaged masses who cry foul over money in politics, government corruption, substandard candidates and inept policies have a point. Add to that, the general minutia of our republican system and the thought of one's minuscule impact in comparison to the rest of the voting populous, is it any wonder so many are turned off? In the grand scheme of things your vote amounts to very little so why wait in a long line being corralled by elderly volunteers who managed to turn on only one working voting machine? Well as with everything in this life, the answer to such a loaded question is much more complicated than you'd think. The best way I can boil down a very complex problem to the easily absorbed bumper sticker narrative we're all used to I say: GROW UP! I know, not particularly illuminating so let me explain.

Seriously people WTF!!

Of course the money in politics is corrosive, of course politicians don't always vote in your best interest, of course this year's crop of headline chasing, myopic, vainglorious narcissists aren't the best you could hope for; but you know what? Just like a sewer, what you put into it is more or less what you get out of it. Where were you when the your State quietly got rid of waiting periods for handguns? Where were you when your city passed a sanctuary law for illegals? Where were you during the midterms? Where were you when (insert pet problem you're angry about here) happened? I'm not going to sit here and tell you if you don't vote you have no right to complain but I do think it's a little immature to whine about how this country is going to hell in a hand-basket without proposing and championing a solution.

Your constituency on movie night

But none of that matters I hear you cry. I have no control over X,Y and Z! That's a lie but let's put it into plain terms you may understand strawman I completely made up for this article. I want you to imagine all the people who set the rules for what you can and cannot do on a daily basis. Of course you have the folks who represent the law in some way; the President, Congressmen, the cop who gave you that speeding ticket. But let's go beyond the rules written on parchment. You got your boss, your family unit, your neighborhood association, your church, synagogue, mosque or temple. All are institutions that inform, or have a say in what you and how you do it. Now ask yourself, how much impact do you have in the decision-making processes in all these institutions? Can you make change happen at work or at church? Can you influence your friends and family when it comes to what movie to watch? Of course you can it just depends on how much effort you want to put into it.

Say what you want about these people,
at least they're rallying for something

Voting truth be told is the least one can do to actively participate and thus actively improve on their community. You want to see real change you can hope for; join a political party, write a letter to your Congressman, join a political action group, start a recycling program at work, plant a tree,volunteer, start a business, read a book, protest something! There are quite literally hundreds of ways a person can make a noticeable difference that doesn't involve a ballot box. The biggest problem I have with Non-voters isn't their concerns which are valid; it's their indifference to those same concerns.

It'd be fine if they didn't vote but still actively participate in something vaguely communal. I've been told not voting can be seen as a form of protest against an oppressive system, though I fail to see how effective that tactic is. Yet more often than not I find that those who don't vote are the same people who complain bitterly about how awful their lives are while doing nothing to actually improve their station. They're the classic fat guy sitting on the couch eating Fritos all day complaining about how they can't loose weight. If you truly think the system is f***ed do something about it!

I hate to imbue this article with allusions to Nazis as that rhetorical cliche is about as overused as a gym sock in an all male boarding school, but in this case I'll make an exception. British historian and world leading Hitler authority Ian Kershaw once wrote "The road to Auschwitz was built by hate, but paved with indifference." I see this indifference all the time in everyone from the dude in his 40's whose read Ayn Rand one too many times to the disengaged hipster who sees her aloofness as somehow above it all. Don't elevate disengagement as a point of pride for yourself. There are plenty of people who fight for a seat at the table, don't just walk away because you don't like the meal.