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Pastimes : Clown-Free Zone... sorry, no clowns allowed
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To: flatsville who wrote (33817)11/5/2000 8:45:35 PM
From: Oblomov  Read Replies (1) of 436258
 
This kind of sentiment is more often than not expressed by those who haven't entered the fray or gone to battle for anything they believe (arm chair citizens) in or those who got their face punched in and promptly quit (quitters.)

Flats-

Although I have respect for your dedication to your beliefs, I must disagree with you here (it won't be the first time -gg-). An anti-political attitude is often the result of rich life experience and careful consideration.

My father was, when I was growing up, very involved in Democratic politics. Although much of his motivation was to help friends run for office, I think his involvement was also the result of his basic idealism. He was a successful businessman; he grew up poor but managed to succeed despite the fact that the local banking community were children of privilege. His name was at one point nearly synonymous with the state Democratic Party - negative ads were run featuring him as the target although he was just a campaign manager.

Naturally, in my youth I became very involved in Democratic politics as well. I canvassed precincts, made calls, did survey analysis, etc. I went to Washington D.C. as a Congressional Intern. I got to hear the way that pols talk when only other pols are around. Their black humor and highly inventive cursing made me laugh and laugh.

I eventually came to tire of the seemingly bottomless ambition of everyone around me. Politics struck me as a rather soulless way to find satisfaction. I began to realize that politics, at least at the federal level, was a futile power game. It occurred to me that the rivals to politics for my intellectual energy (art, business life, philosophy) felt far more ennobling than working in politics.

So now, I am an inveterate reader of news and I do vote. But I refuse to be involved on a more substantive level. Doing so would condone a system that I don't really believe in.
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