The Political Junkie Speaks!

Ok ok ok. Here it is: Le Post des Politics.

Disclaimer: this might not be what you expect me to say or what you want to read right now.

Obviously, I am a gay-kissin, tree-huggin, bicyle-ridin liberal. We all know where I stand on abortion and Romney and our military so I’m not here to subject you to more prObama shouting than my Facebook feed already provides.

(While we’re on the topic of my Facebook feed, don’t think that reading this means you’re free from my anti-Romney posts. I really don’t like him and need to remind of you of that just as frequently as I need to remind you that I love bagels and lattes. I love bagels and lattes!)

So what is it that has taken me several weeks since my last post to say, exactly? Politics is fun, but not for everyone. That being said, participate to the best of your ability anyway. You look like a doofus if you say “I’m just voting for the lesser of two evils” because it makes it seem like you don’t have confidence in whatever decision you’ve already made.

Did you know I don’t like talking politics? Seriously. I mean, I post enough memes for us all to know I’m politically active, but I certainly don’t like talking politics with any of my friends or housemates. The second anyone, and I mean strangers included, finds out I’m a senior Politics major, the response will be one of the following, every. single. time. :

• So, Republican or Democrat?
• Oh you want to be a lawyer?
• I could never do that, it’s too hard and boring.

To tell you the truth, I’m not sure what answer I’d realistically expect. But I don’t like the ones I get anyway. Here are my genuine responses, which I only do not use out of politeness for my fellow humans:

• Registered Independent who will religiously vote Democrat until the Republican Party doesn’t nominate someone who is Tea Party, is running with someone who is Tea Party, or is endorsed by Sarah Palin.
• No. I am joining AmeriCorps, and then Peace Corps, and then moving into my parents house where I will work at Taco Bell until I pay off my student loans. Then I’ll most likely get a Master’s in International Relations and repeat the whole process.
• I could never do a Biology degree, Zach could never do a Creative Writing degree, and my awesome cat could never get an Awesome Dog degree. We all have things we’re good at. Oh, and it’s not boring.

Politics is hardly even my shtick. I prefer blogging, dancing, and cuddling kittens way more than political discussions.

Because it’s impossible to know everything about the political world, or know which news source is telling you the truth.

But we all THINK we know what’s up.

All I really want from the U.S. population is to get their news from more than just their conservative-only or liberal-only repertoire of news sources and to get just a little more involved.

Like…voting. For example.

Marijuana and gay marriage would both be legal on the federal level if young people decided to show up at the voting booths. Yet, for some reason, they don’t think they’ll make an effect in public policy. So their grandparents show up to vote instead and pot-smoking lesbians will forever be outlawed.

I don’t think people need to be able to list three fun facts about U.S. relations in Syria. I just like it when folks have a least enough knowledge about Romney and Obama to be able to ask questions or hold a conversation about them.

I don’t know where I’m going with this. I just really wanted to look like I was taking notes in class while also ranting a little bit about how sucky I think some people are in politics.

The moral of the story? Watch Fox and MSNBC.