When I was younger, I remember hearing things like, “I don’t like getting involved in politics,” and “Let’s not bring politics into this.” Pastors say things like, “Everyone is welcome here; we don’t care about your party.”
I remember thinking back then that those phrases didn’t seem right. I wasn’t sure why they were wrong. I hadn’t formed the beliefs I have now, a worldview that makes it obvious why those sentiments are wrong. But I knew something was off about them.
During the Rona Panic, I’ve heard people making those same kinds of comments again. “I don’t like how everything is so political,” they say, and “Elected officials need to put politics aside and compromise.” These people are dreamers who want to avoid reality.
I recently saw a Facebook post that touches on what I’m talking about.
All politics is religious
All religion is political.
Jay Carper
Correct. Life is religion. Politics is life. Religion is politics.
In the real world, we all live in groups, a.k.a. societies. In functioning societies, people generally agree on the fundamental issues of how we live our lives. We share the same morals. We agree on mores. Much of life is predictable and understandable. That makes life easier for everyone to manage. Not perfect, necessarily, or fair, but more predictable.
Government is an extension of society, and even the most limited governments have some impact on the way we live. When government is limited, the impact is limited. When government is big, well … the impacts because more onerous.
Now, maybe you can ignore politics when government is small and you have functioning society of people who have “common traditions, institutions, and collective activities and interests.” Maybe you can “leave politics out of it” when you’re part of “an enduring and cooperating social group whose members have developed organized patterns of relationships through interaction with one another .”
But, that’s not the reality today. Some people might not “know” it yet, but they can feel it, and they don’t like it. In the past, national political didn’t have as much of an impact on our daily lives. To ignore politics today is to ignore the people making rules that affect our daily lives. Life has always been politics, but now it’s more obvious.
Many different societies are living in America and other countries in the West. They don’t have common traditions or institutions. Some people support the law, the courts, and the police; other people want to tear those down. Some people support Christianity, the Church, and the Family; others want to break those apart. Some people support markets and decentralization; some yearn for power and total control.
The latest argument is over masks, but rest assured that political strife will continue until one side wins and imposes their values, or everyone decides to separate into like-minded societies.
If you read Men Of The West, then this probably isn’t news to you, but you can share it with your friends and family.
The time for immature daydreaming has passed. We have to see the world as it is and respond accordingly. Reality always wins. When we have a society again, maybe some of us will be able to ignore politics; maybe we can “leave politics out of it” like we used to do with sports. Hell, one day public schools may even teach our values again. But not today.
“When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.” Paul, 1 Corinthains 13
Life is politics; you better get in the game.
Photo by Josh Sorenson from Pexels
If life is politics, then we need to start voting much earlier and far more often…
Or, we can rid ourselves of the enemy.
People never wanted to make anything political, because that means thinking a matter through, coming to a firm conclusion about something and then defending it. You can always tell when someone has put in the effort, even if they haven’t reached a solid conclusion. But most people are normies; they want a peaceful life, and would rather not bother with anything that might get in the way of them getting paid or laid. “Staying out of politics” is the lazy man’s philosophy, and it was a luxury we were afforded. For a little while.
I have sympathy for people who want to stay out of politics. There are only 24 hours in a day and we have finite time on this earth. Most people don’t want to spend hours reading news, researching, trying to find the truth. They want to go to work, spend time with their kids, enjoy some entertainment. I get that. That’s why most people want to live in a society with people who share their beliefs and values. It’s makes life easier and more enjoyable.