Fight for Democracy, Part 12: Politics is Everything

It’s a common phrase thrown out in the middle of a heated Facebook discussion or an exhortation aimed at those who seem most disturbed by our current administration: it’s just politics. The message is: it’s not something worth getting upset about, or being so angry at me for, or worth all the fuss. This dismissal of politics is a distraction from the facts or an attempt to shift blame. It’s an excuse to save ourselves from accepting the results of the choices we make. But it isn’t a rational response to deeply held beliefs or a proper understanding of the world we live in.

It’s true that politics includes the mundane. School bonds, county zoning commissions, national ice cream day. Much of it deals with economics: tax exemptions, anti-trust laws, worker compensation rules. These things can be important to individuals but most would agree they are not core to our self-identity or instrumental to improving the life experiences of the average person. But that is not the sum total of politics. Not by far.

Politics also includes anti-discrimination laws. It includes social welfare programs that save lives. Politics decide which countries to fight and which to support. Politics started World War II, ended slavery, gave women the right to vote and gay people the right to marry. It now threatens to curtail a free press, register people based on their religion, and normalize racial resentment as a viable world-view. At its core, our laws and government express how we as a society treat one another, and politics is the manner in which we discuss our morality as a people. To suggest it shouldn’t be a factor in friendships or worthy of an emotional response begs the question: what should?

Should I get upset when someone says my child’s life isn’t as valuable as theirs, but not when the claim is made towards a refugee? Should I break a friendship over insults to myself but not to a class of people that doesn’t include me? Is it okay for me to dislike you for being a racist but not for supporting racist policies? Politics is a true indicator of who we are while how we treat specific individuals is clouded by personal histories and in-person biases.

You don’t have to agree with my preferred policies, you don’t have to belong to the same political party, but if you disagree with my assumptions that all human beings deserve equal rights and to be treated with dignity and respect, that in a wealthy country we can afford basic care and support of those who can’t help themselves, regardless of the reason, and that democracy, while imperfect, is far better than any of the alternatives, you are encouraged to unfollow me and I promise I won’t get upset about it. After all, it’s just politics.