What am i missing.

[Scotty99]

Alrite so.

 

I am 34 year old man and have never been able to fully grasp politics. I get the endgame, (at least in this country) that it does matter who runs the show and how that can affect your everyday life. But what i have had trouble grasping for years, is how do smart people get so passionate about these topics.

 

Am i the idiot for not understanding politics, or have i mentally skipped that step in my brain to move onto bigger and better things (again, in my brain).

 

I only bring this up as ive recently been introduced to a show labeled the young turks who do a youtube podcast about the most relevant and popular political videos. These people aren't dumb, the host cenk yugur (sp) is a bright guy, but i just cannot grasp how he got into the industry. I know it matters your upbringing and how that affected you, but a logical person can dictate what is truly of importance.

 

I don't want donald trump as my president anymore than the next guy, but what i just dont get is why people feel the need to talk about it endlessly even down to the gestures he makes on his face in a debate.

 

 

Explain, my ears are wide open.

I wrote this very fast, but what it boils down to in my mind is this: Why waste your brain power on something so frivolous when there are bigger problems to solve. But wait, there is more. At the same time i realized maybe politics are actually what i should be focusing on, as that is what directly affects my day to day life.

 

Its a conundrum to me, there are a ton of smart people on this planet but why oh why are we so fragmented on goals. Am i wrong? Are they wrong?

[Phi for All]

Don't focus on the circus. That's what money does to elections. It's a magician's distraction technique.

 

Focus on the issues. How do you feel about your fellow Americans? Do you think they have rights that have eroded over the last 60 years or so, or do we have too many rights? Is there a candidate who represents the way you feel about the issues?

 

It's less about how that candidate looks (or should be) and more about whether you can trust them to do the things they promise they'll do. Politics is important because it's the best way for you to stand up and be counted for something important to you on many levels, local, regional, national. Whether you think handguns shouldn't be allowed in your local museums, or you think it's wrong for corporations to gain the benefits of both a legal corporate charter AND protection as citizens of the US (which conflict heavily, btw, and is one reason why you hear that Citizens United MUST be overturned), politics is the way to make it happen.

 

It's the process by which you will invest yourself in your country, and hopefully nudge it closer towards being the country you're proud of.

[swansont]

When I was younger, I wasn't interested in politics at all. I just didn't see the connection between my everyday life and what was going on in Washington (or even locally) — there weren't a lot of issues that seemed to matter to me. Or if there were, I didn't see how my participation mattered. In speaking with some relatives who have only recently become eligible to vote, they feel the same way.

 

It was only after being in the "real world" for a bit after grad school/postdoc that I started seeing the impacts of government decisions and directions. Even though I voted whenever I could (I missed elections when I lived in Canada because I forget to get absentee ballots. Harder to arrange when the web was much less mature), my choices were much less nuanced.

 

I think the talk is for convincing people who are still on the fence. 40% of the voters will probably vote republican no matter what and 40% democrat, but it's the undecideds and the people who for some reason aren't motivated to go vote at all that are the desired target of a lot of the discussion.

[iNow]

Why waste your brain power on something so frivolous when there are bigger problems to solve.

Those "bigger problems" you mention only ever get solved (or, made worse) once there is a political consensus, that's why.