resign and shrug it off.

I used to read a lot about politics. I'd check out books from the library, and check out certain websites every day. Sometimes I'd even try to watch C-span, but it all became regurgitated ideas about how to fix problems that run deeper than most people's understanding allow them to go. I stopped reading, or caring much, and it at times I think I should feel concern over the fact that I don't care much anymore. Should I feel concern that I don't care to watch a speech that Pres. Bush gives, or an episode of "Meet the Press?" I figure all these theoretical ideas that are spewed forth by Chomsky or Machiavelli, or Howard Zinn or Emma Goldman, Karl Marx, they are all just books. I guess the exception to this is Karl Marx, and maybe certain points of Machiavelli have been put into action, although, these ideas have not been without heavy criticism. In the west, I've become bored and everything seems to exist in the small box that our capitalistic/democratic-socialist society has set up. The box is getting smaller, and political parties are becoming increasingly similar. I think that at this point, there needs to be something "radical", but anyone, or any idea that represents something truly new and fresh will not see the light of day amongst the government chambers of tradition and lobbyists. I think that even when politicians start with an honest desire to go against the grain and to actually make a difference, they quicly realize how it works, and right then, their ambition gives way to self preservation. They begin to make decisions which keep them in office, rather than decisions that will represent something new. I suppose it's a catch 22...to make a change at all, you have to be in some kind of office. So the reason someone wants to be involved in politics is perhaps compramised when you realize what it takes to actually stay where you are, and even more so if you want to advance up the slippery ladder. It's impossible to make everyone happy, so everything becomes watered down. I am not interested at all in these upcoming elections, or rather, I'm not too excited at the list of candidates. As much as I want Bush out, I can't get behind anyone at this moment, because they are all just smiling and saying the same things that have been said for the last eight years. It's all about the war, how we need to leave (which would leave the Iraqi people in a rather despondant state, a state in which we helpled create), or about how we need to stay the course (which would lead to more of our soldiers dead, lead to more money thrown into the war, and a rebuilding that doesnt seem to have any direction at the moment)..it all depends on which news channel you watch, or what candidate you listen to. The thing is, neither of those sources represent the truth. What's even more confusing and typical, is that the truth changes based on who you listen to. The point of this post is not to let you know how I feel about the situation over seas, or to let you know what party I align myself with, I guess I'm just expressing my discontent, a discontent that is increasingly typical among people my age, and a discontent which could very well lead to indifference. These people in office just seem to be dancing to really bad song that they wrote and can't seem to end. I won't pretend to know what it's like for Bush, or for Rice, or for the people in Iraq, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Isreal or Palestine. I can complain about what I see, what I hear, but I will never know the full story, because that is all classified. I think that even the things we do vote on, the opinions we do form, are based on snippets of a situation which is not fully disclosed. Everything is so far gone, that to repair it, it would require a full over haul of human spirit, a thorough reform. Our country is built on something like a jenga puzzle. I have a dwindling faith in a society of people which is pushed a point of skepticism and distrust by our own design of capitalism and foreign policy (Ayn Rand, the VIRTUE of selfishness?). I would not, and could not call myself an anarchist, although Jacob and I always discuss the pros and cons of socialism vs capitalism. Self preservation is a rule that we all must account for, and our selfish nature is always a parameter to consider when analyzing and considering the possibility of any ideal political situation. Whatever.