Hunting the Muse: Politics Matters
First, he tries to tell us that he doesn’t consider himself a political person. So, he starts out fibbing. Then, he goes on to write some suspiciously clear-headed rant on political participation, thus disproving point one.
I like this piece because I’m not terribly proficient at describing my own views on politics, and when I read something like this, it begs me to the bandwagon.
Highlights:
I guess it’s because I believe in ripples. I don’t believe that every person can change the world. I don’t believe that I can change everything in the world. But, I do believe in the power of ripples. I do believe that my little ripples combined with everyone else’s ripples can result in a change. And, I even believe that in some cases, if my ripple weren’t there, the resulting change from all rest of the ripples might be a little different than if my little ripple had been there.
…
…even huge massive systems and realities have a balance point, where it can rapidly tip to one side or the other, and I believe we’re on a balance point now. A little nudge one way or another, even by a very small group of people, can create huge change.
Believe in whatever you want. Buy in to whatever manifesto lights you up. In any case, the challenge is not the system, the contest, the issue at hand. No, the real challenge is not losing hope that your ripple, your power, will eventually affect someone somewhere. Politics doesn’t live in the papers or on the net or TV; it flourishes in meta-space: if no one cared, if no one believed that their view would be listened to, the system would vanish completely.