cyb said:
Who gives a crap about politics? ... Live your life...Not theirs!
This is how I think of politics in a nutshell.
Bodhisativa said:
I'm apathetic about politics. I don't vote (in Australia, it's compulsory to vote). I don't follow the news, or anything in the media. If everyone shared my views, it would be pretty dangerous to society, since it would just collapse. As attractive as that may seem to me, it would be catastrophic.
I'm also extremely apathetic about politics. I see it as a total farce, the so-called democratic system. The current political systems will always be inherently flawed because they're run by humans :lol: Power corrupts, time and time again. Greed, bribery, the shirking of moral decency for personal gain. I have never, and probably will never, trust any politician.
Living in Canada, we are having our Federal elections right now. The adversarial system expresses itself the greatest around these times. Blue vs. Red. It's no better than an organized sporting event. "We won!" when your favorite team wins the championship. You had no real part in the success of your "team" other than some illusory imagining of casting your vote which is essentially meaningless. What bothers me is people think they have an obligation to participate in the system, no matter how corrupt and disgusting it has become.
I choose not to participate and as you said Bodhisativa, if too many of us refused then the system could possibly collapse. But would society as a whole crumble? It's my opinion that it would not. And I think it's necessary for us to practice non-participation. The systems we uphold are absolutely corrupt. I feel they are past the point of no return. We have to tear them down completely, and then be
very aware of what we replace them with. It has to be something which is not based on another mode of government, a completely new concept. I don't have those answers, but I think we as a species could find much better ways of governing.
Bodhisative said:
I also have really conflicting views about societies in general. Part of me wants to live in the wild, totally independent, where other people live in small tribal villages (no electricity or anything modern). The other part of me wants a fully functioning, totally peaceful super-country. In the former, wisdom reigns supreme. The latter, knowledge.
I also go back and forth between wanting small, self-governing villages to dreaming about a super-society where there is no poverty, no violence, no greed, etc. Can we somehow integrate the two seemingly opposite modalities? That's what I ask of myself, and humanity as a whole, to dream big and never give up hope in achieving an idyllic society.
And when people spout off the old "if you don't vote you have no reason to complain" I either quote some George Carlin at them (which almost always pisses people off) or I might say something like this:
"No man has any natural authority over any other man. Legitimate authority can only be derived by express consent. A majority decision does not nullify the choice of the individual not to consent."
By participating in the system and voting for a leader, you are giving your consent to be ruled over. You enter into a master/servant relationship. Now you may say that this is unavoidable, but I disagree. You have the ability to break the chains and live your own life, as you want to live it. They may come for you and lock you up, ruin your life. But you still have the choice to act as you will, despite all their efforts to have you cowed into submission.
The system needs to change and we're the only ones who can change it. The best method to achieve that, at least as I see it, is to refuse to participate as much as possible.
