Although it is somewhat hard for me to believe, I am told there are people who do not follow politics closely. All joking aside, I have always understood there are people out there not connected 24/7 to politics as I am. I actually know some of these people. They may or may not be family members and friends. I try politely to keep them informed, but most of the time I feel like I’m talking to a wall. They tell me they’re not “like me” with my head in politics all day. They have things they call “hobbies” and “friends” and have “things to do” rather than eat and breathe politics. It’s weird.
Lately, however, they seem a bit more concerned about things. A couple of items have caught their attention. First, they believed life would go back to “normal” under a new administration, and it is shocking to them that there are still harsh restrictions on their lives concerning where they go and what they do. Second, “Wow, the price of gas has gone way up!”
Here’s where I would put a smacking my face emoji, if I were texting with them. I mean, really, what the heck did they think would happen?
I love these people, but they are not forward thinkers. They passively watch the “news” and go with whatever it tells them, never diving in deeper, and never looking for alternative media. One of them tells me that he actually believes “smarter” people should make the decisions and refuses to vote; although, so far he doesn’t like the direction in which America is headed. These friends don’t seem concerned with Hunter Biden’s entanglements with China and Ukraine. They don’t understand the great Trump-era foreign policy Biden is undoing, and they darn sure haven’t seen the huge list of wasteful spending that supposedly is the “COVID relief” package.
Does it ever occur to these friends to ask, “What if ‘smarter’ people are making these decisions for me, but they are making them in order to get power for their group or their cause or for themselves over me?
What if, while you are having a great time playing “Call of Duty,” they are busy seeking ways to take your voice and more of your tax money and your civic duties away?
What if, while you are out at the bar, they are colluding with those who are banning your social media accounts because you posted something three years ago of which they disapprove?
What if these “smart” people, seeking power and fortune, are busy pitting your perceived group against other groups in order to create chaos only they can fix, by taking away your constitutional rights, while you aren’t paying attention? What would it take for you to wake up?
More than likely you also know someone or a collection of someones who also don’t pay attention to politics. Now, more than ever, it’s time to wake these people up.
We need to point to tangible things they can do care about—things that will affect them or their families directly. Things like job losses with these unending lockdowns; soaring gas prices after several refineries were forced to shut down; the billions of dollars this current Congress is proposing to spend, in the name of COVID, that is not going directly to those affected by the pandemic, but rather paying for politicians’ pet projects; and an open border policy where thousands of illegal immigrants will and have entered the country from Mexico without a vaccination, at the same time legal citizens are struggling to pay their rent.
Everyone doesn’t have to be quite as involved in politics as I am; however, it is absolutely dangerous not to pay attention. Ultimately, it is apathy that will bury the United States of America.