Politics is not a sport or an annoyance; it’s your future

“A peo­ple that val­ues its priv­i­leges above its prin­ci­ples soon los­es both.” — Dwight D. Eisenhower

“Democracy must be some­thing more than two wolves and a sheep vot­ing on what to have for din­ner.” — James Bovard

Politics. It’s a dirty word to some Americans, a top­ic to be avoid­ed and ignored. To oth­ers, it’s a blood sport, some­thing to pur­sue with all the vig­or and enthu­si­asm of a sports fanat­ic. To many oth­ers, it’s sim­ply some­thing too bor­ing and triv­ial to contemplate.

It should be none of the above.

Here’s how Wikipedia begins its entry on politics:

“Politics (from Ancient Greek πολιτικά (poli­tiká) ‘affairs of the cities’) is the set of activ­i­ties that are asso­ci­at­ed with mak­ing deci­sions in groups, or oth­er forms of pow­er rela­tions among indi­vid­u­als, such as the dis­tri­b­u­tion of resources or sta­tus. The branch of social sci­ence that stud­ies pol­i­tics and gov­ern­ment is referred to as polit­i­cal science.”

Don’t let the head­lines fool you. Politics is not (or should not be) about who leads in the polls, who called who a such-and-such, or who has the biggest rallies. 

Politics is democ­ra­cy in action!

When your reli­gious or civic orga­ni­za­tion makes deci­sions as a group, it is exer­cis­ing pol­i­tics. When a fam­i­ly votes to decide where to go on vaca­tion, it is engaged in pol­i­tics. You are involved in pol­i­tics when you write an email to your rep­re­sen­ta­tive, place a yard sign, post a polit­i­cal quote on social media, or vote in an election.

Democracy can­not func­tion with­out pol­i­tics. And a func­tion­al democ­ra­cy requires an engaged citizenry.

A friend recent­ly wrote on social media that they are not engaged in pol­i­tics because of “all the dirty politicians.”

If you think pol­i­tics is too dirty, dull, or irrel­e­vant to your life to take an inter­est in it, you are part of the prob­lem. Because what the dirty politi­cians want more than any­thing is for the vast major­i­ty of Americans to check out, to ignore what’s hap­pen­ing on the Supreme Court, the Oval Office, and the halls of Congress.

We write a lot about pol­i­tics here because we believe more Americans should know how their gov­ern­ment is (or is not) work­ing for them.

At a recent ral­ly in West Palm Beach, for­mer pres­i­dent Donald Trump told the crowd to vote for him “just this time” — and added that they “won’t have to do it any­more” if he wins. What he meant by that is anyone’s guess. The most gen­er­ous inter­pre­ta­tion is that he con­sid­ers vot­ing a chore that peo­ple don’t real­ly want to do and that anoth­er term would allow him to “fix” all that’s bro­ken so future elec­tions won’t be as critical.

A dark­er inter­pre­ta­tion could be that he intends to use a sec­ond term to elim­i­nate future elec­tions and dis­man­tle democ­ra­cy as we know it. Either way, it’s a sad com­men­tary, com­ing from a for­mer President.

What to do?

Let’s do what the “dirty politi­cians” don’t want us to do. Let’s learn about pub­lic pol­i­cy. Let’s get engaged and stay engaged. Let’s write to our gov­ern­ment rep­re­sen­ta­tives. Let’s talk about gov­ern­ment with our friends, neigh­bors, and fam­i­ly. Let’s place those yard signs.

Let’s all reg­is­ter and vote. Because vot­ing is a right, not a chore to be avoid­ed. And because if you don’t vote this November, you may nev­er get to again.

The 2024 General Election is November 5, 2024. The reg­is­tra­tion dead­line for the 2024 General Election is October 7, 2024, at 4 PM local time. Students, if you will be 18 on or before November 5, you can reg­is­ter now! 

Are you reg­is­tered to vote? If you are not, here’s how to register: 

• In per­son, at the coun­ty clerk’s office. (In Clark County, that would be in the Courthouse, 34 South Main Street, Room 109.) 
• Online, here: Home Page — Kentucky State Board of Elections
• Unsure if you are reg­is­tered or where your vot­ing loca­tion is? Check here: Voter Information Center (ky.gov)