Anyway, Here is the thing. In regards to politics, it seems like people either have strong biased opinions or ignore it altogether.
Not to long ago, I ran across a video that, along with other things I found questionable (if games are toys, then movies and fiction are also toys, but thats another rant for another day), insists that "gamers" learn more about things other then games. Fair enough. I myself take quite a interest in history, science, and literature myself, and I find games just another aspect of culture in that aspect. Though I think his list of "YOU NEED TO READ THIS" authors are a bit long and subjective, but whatever.
But the thing related to politics was his insistence that people know who the members of the Senate and the Supreme Court are. First of all, that only applies to Americans, but thats besides the point, though it does show American bias, which to be fair, I will also show though out this rant, simply because it's the system I am most familiar with, and, because I live there, is my chief concern. I hope others can draw parallels for other systems though. Anyway mostly my problem is, NO ONE really knows who is in Senate and the Supreme Court! Well I am sure some people do, but anyway, most people don't. And I don't think it's simply because people are ignorant. They don't care.
And why should they? Nowadays the Senate and the Supreme Court seem to be treated in the media and in people's eyes as some sort of celebrity cult rather then an actual ruling body. The identities of the ruling bodies are unimportant. In fact it seems more and more like even their beliefs and views are unimportant, outside of a few mavericks which stand out by having unusual polices or personality. The only reason why people care about The President is because he is THE President, a person who stands out for being a singular unit in a crowd and personally uses or misuses his power directly.
When people do get into politics, it is usually because of one or more "issues" or "causes" they care about. Otherwise, they tend to ignore it. It is seen by some as little more then a game, a pointless exercise of trickery and bluff. Politicians seem to make laws, unmake laws, argue about them, and generally fight and whine within their own closed domed halls without paying much attention to the outside world. That the police actually take them seriously every once and a while can be seen by some as a mild annoyance at best and a great injustice at worst. No where is this more obvious then in the realm of copyright. Why is piracy so common with music and software? Simply because no one really cares what swarms of lawyers and politicians say. And the moment anything is actually enforced people cry that things are becoming a police state.
Now what would happen if this apathy to law and politics were to continue? The "great" American Government would become hopelessly defused to the point where it becomes a non-entity. Now frankly, I think this could be a good thing, if handled right. I am more or less an anarchist. Now Anarchy is a very diverse political movement with many branches and beliefs so I could clarify: I don't believe in "no rules", I believe in "no government", or at least "no federal government". For example, a system of several more or less independent citystates or small alliances. I think when ever it is we get into space, colonies will naturally be like this, more like today's chartered cites on the ocean. But if it is not handled right, as it is likely not to be, it will collapse into chaos and ruin. Or the backlash from the diffusion will prompt America to become a police state. Which will then collapse into chaos and ruin. Because all police states do.
So in order to prevent that, we have to find the problem with American politics. And we all already know what it is. Parties. But it's deeper then that. It's the whole way people take sides. For example, the other day I was talking to my father. My father is an environmentalist. His big problem is that big business types seem to refuse to find alternative ways to do things for the sake of profit and therefore are ruining the environment. I don't see it that way. The way I see it, it's a matter of pride and sides. For the most part. environmentalists take one side, and big business take another. They refuse to compromise or see any other side if the issue ever. Thats simply it. People pick an issue, pick the side they want, argue until they win or can't anymore. But then the groups they form become the issue. It's no longer about solving the problem, it's about their group winning. Of course, some people do try to reach out from between party lines so to speak but they are just ignored for the most part by the other party who are still treating it as a team-vs-team game.
On that note, here is some advice for all the political activists out there: Join the "other side". Democrats, become republicans. Republicans, become democrats. And so on. And I am not just saying to try and destabilize the enemy from within, no. Pick up their causes. If you feel even one of them is a good cause, go for it. The goal is to bring new ideas and new ways of looking at things into parties that are stagnant with people who refuse to accept anything the other says. I think this in particular needs to be done with republicans. They need help. Some of them are openly bigoted or reactionary and the rest are good people but not willing to oust their peers. They need more inside people willing to do just that. It's not that republicans are bad people, they just so caught up in their fight on democrats they are unwilling to tolerate any disloyalty no matter what.
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