Posted: 10.27.2011
“In the best of worlds, politics is the work of nurturing community and caring for the commons---that broad spectrum of public life that we all own and use. Somehow we have allowed politics to lose its soul… Politics needs a soul to make its work humane and to give it its appropriate communal context.”
~ Thomas Moore, The Education of the Heart (1996~ HarperCollins Publishers)
As conscious humane beings we should all be interested in getting involved in politics in one way or another. By getting involved in politics we become more alive in life, make new friends, create new healthy relationships and expand our circles of influence in life. We need to constantly educate ourselves about politics in general. Not having any kind of political education is like not having a soul. Whatever affects our mind and body naturally affects our soul, affects our whole state-of-being in the world. Let our souls be humane, loving and compassionate. Having definite positions about different social issues is the hallmark of an intelligent being who knows what is going on in the world and have formulated opinions about the world. Take a stand!
Politics is still war without bloodshed and war is still politics with bloodshed. Politics today should be about the people’s politics ~the people’s basic survival needs: food, clothing, shelter, medical care and quality education and how to meet our basic survival needs. These politics are people’s politics because they involve standing up for our basic humane rights, our core life issues and our deepest desires for a good life free of the misery of poverty, endless pain and constant suffering. We can be involved in various political movements to make out voices be heard in the world. We will no longer remain silent like dumb sheep about connected reality and all the wrong in the world today.
In the real world we are all already involved in politics in one way or the other. We are involved in a direct way by our personal participation in political affairs. We are involved when we exercise our humane rights by expressing our political beliefs, by being involved in electoral politics, by attending a political rally or simply by going out to vote on election days with our neighbors. We are involved in an indirect way in our personal lives because political decisions made by politicians in seats of power have decisive influences on our daily lives whether we vote or not.
We can play an active conscious role by getting personally involved in the life of politics. Or we can play a passive unconscious role by not being involved in politics. Even one’s non-involvement is a political issue because it is a symptom of the social disease of political apathy, of not caring about what is going on in the world we live in and leaving life in the hands of corrupt politicians who do not have our best survival interests at heart. Perverted politicians do not give a damn whether we live or die. Our enemies are not only Evil Ones or mere mean mortals destined to die. Our enemies are social apathy or social indifference, gross ignorance about political matters, foolish fears that freeze our natural drives, internal character defects and other ways that block or retard our collective evolution as an endangered species of life.
It is incumbent upon the social humane being to stay awake. Be aware of what is happening in the world of politics. Politics is a key part of our whole social life in society. Know what is going on in the real world through gaining direct experience. Help make the general situation better for all of us by getting involved in politics, learning about political issues, attending political discussion groups and supporting progressive political causes of the day, such as, the quickly growing #Occupy Wall Street movement.
Every vote can make a difference. Enough votes together determine the outcome of key political decisions or political elections that impact on all of us. Many wish to vote and cannot vote for different reasons, such as, not being a legal citizen or being an ex-felon on parole. Our one vote really can make a real difference! People have died for us to enjoy the right to vote! We must exercise our right to vote!
There are different kinds of politics in different arenas and on different levels. There can be global politics, local politics and even politics in family relationships. Getting involved in politics is about trying to influence the social ideas, political positions and personal opinions of people so that their basic decisions, social attitudes and social behaviors about political matters are in support of our personal survival interests as humane beings.
For the inmate on death row our belief-system about the death penalty, along with others, can save a life or take a life. What our political opinions are about illegal immigration can have a big impact on the existence of an undocumented person and his family. There are a collection of political issues that are influenced by our collective political opinions. Even casual conversations overheard in a coffee shop can sway the mind of a listening voter. In the big picture, each of us matters as an individual and is important to the whole of humanity. We are all in this life together.
Present-day electoral politics is governed by a two-headed monster known as the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. Both of them are in the end owned by the monopoly corporate capitalist ruling class. Nevertheless, we can have a positive impact on the outcome of elections if all of us vote together for a certain candidate in a given election as a mass movement of educated voters. We can certainly have an impact on local elections that can have a more direct impact on our lives. If we do not learn how to play the game of politics we can never win in the vicious political arena.
It is good to be actively involved in one political party or another, whether it is in the Democratic Party, the Republican Party or an independent third party. Maybe you are an independent voter who supports neither of the two dominant political parties nor any alternative party. At least you are aware of where you stand in the political realm of life. All of us should be registered to vote if we are an eligible voter and make the conscious effort to go out and vote on Election Day.
If you think that all politicians are crooked and corrupt, then you go ahead and run for office to see how you can do! We cannot merely curse and whine about politics then remain lazy saying we do not have the time to get involved. We need to straighten out crooked politicians by running against them, exposing their lies and piercing through their wicked propaganda machines. Put up or shut up! If you do not vote you still have freedom of speech to express your opinion, but you will be looked at as a kind of lazy hypocrite who sits on the sidelines of life moaning and groaning without getting involved in what’s going on today.
If we are ever to have a true genuine democracy it must be a direct participatory democracy that we are all involved in together. We must help make democracy relevant in our lives. We must get involved in the life of politics!
What kind of world do we want our children to inherit? The more we do here now to make life better for all of us the better life will be for future generations. Stay awake! Get involved! Register to Vote!
Venceremos! Che Peta
@Peta_de_Aztlan on Twitter
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